ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the development of ideas and theories around innovation are outlined, showing how the metrics of conventional innovation studies as well as the dominant (normative-based) notions of innovation inevitably limit the apparent scope of rural innovation and creativity. Recent comparative research in three Nordic countries and in Italy illustrates how innovation in the sphere of bioenergy (which is an element in the new bioeconomy) takes place in local rural contexts through forms of collective action involving public and private actors. This process can be defined as “grounded innovation” and its theoretical and applied foundations are explained. The role of this kind of innovation, viewed as a local innovation system, in meeting the needs of sustainable rural development, in which social, economic, and environmental goals are met simultaneously, is discussed. This form of innovation, at least in the European context, is quite common in the wider bioeconomy and raises the question whether such grounded innovation cases can be thought of as forming a “new paradigm” of innovation for the future.
