ABSTRACT
Much of our understanding about innovative establishments is based on research linked to agglomeration economies. This implies that policies designed to encourage and increase innovative activities assume an urban-centric framework or strategy. However, many of these assumptions underlying innovative policies may not accurately reflect rural establishments or the regions in which rural establishments operate. In this chapter, we examine new research specifically focused on innovative rural establishments by exploring a unique data set, the 2014 Rural Establishment Innovation Survey (REIS), used by these rural-focused studies. These data and studies reveal important distinctions between rural and urban establishments, such as, the intellectual property (IP) strategies used as well as the types of industries in which the establishments operate and develop innovations. The REIS data include about 11,000 establishment-level observations, 75% of which are of rural establishments, as well as the largest range of innovations measure (40+) contained within a single establishment-level data set. As part of our exploration, we also consider innovation creation through the lens of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Our motivation is to improve our understanding and framework regarding rural innovation, and thus, rural-focused polices that may catalyze innovation in rural places.
