Migration, meaning(s) of place and implications for rural innovation policy

Abstract

Advocates of rural innovation policy argue that understanding innovation through the eyes of local dwellers offers an alternative to theorizations focusing on proximity and clustering. The paper furthers this agenda, suggesting that heterogeneity within rural communities, which is the outcome of differential meanings assigned to place by entrepreneurs with distinct migratory experiences, influences innovation. Specifically, it produces an innovation basis broader than expected given the effects of distance and low business densities. This supports the pursuit of diversification policies, the leveraging of knowledge resources, particularly transient and new, beyond the individual enterprise, and the engagement of diverse entrepreneurial actors in policy development.