ABSTRACT
Creativity can be defined as invention. Innovation is the implementation of that invention—getting it to the market that needs it. Thus, any community’s principal innovators are its entrepreneurs, whether they are the inventors of what they bring to the market or not. Encouraging rural innovation is, at its core, about fostering entrepreneurship. Rural entrepreneurs face numerous challenges to acquiring the financial, human, and physical capital they require to start, grow, and sustain their businesses. These include relative geographical isolation, a dearth of financial capital, fewer venture development organizations, a lower-skilled workforce, and underpopulation that lessens the serendipitous encounters that foster innovation, among others. The ability to create and maintain networks is crucial to overcoming these challenges. Networks are the product of social capital building, particularly the creation of bridging social capital. This type of social capital allows rural entrepreneurs to reach beyond their local communities for the resources they need. It is a variety of informal social capital that permits interactions among individuals and groups that do not necessarily know each other well. This chapter will explore bridging (versus bonding) social capital and its advantages to fostering entrepreneurship. It will examine the ways in which bridging social capital is built and maintained within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Examples from the rural context will be used to illustrate these concepts. The chapter closes with a practical set of recommendations for social capital building in support of successful entrepreneurship.
