Rural innovation grant program culminates in special sessions at North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association

Posted: November 10, 2017

In 2016, with funding from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), the Northeast Center established an award program that provided three teams with access to a new data set that allowed them to explore ways in which business innovation is happening in rural areas, and its impact on rural communities and regional economies. Now that the program has ended, members from each of the funded teams presented their findings in two special sessions co-organized with ERS at the North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association.

Content from the special sessions included:

Session I: Rural Innovation is Multifaceted: Findings from the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey

  • Determinants of Rural Business Innovation
    Brian Whitacre, Oklahoma State University; Devon Meadowcraft, Oklahoma State University; Roberto Gallardo, Mississippi State University
  • The Effects of Sources of Innovation on Innovation Type: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States
    Timothy Slaper, Indiana University; Mehmet Demircioglu, Indiana University; David Audretsch, Indiana University
  • Varieties of Innovation and Firm Survival: Does Pursuit or Incremental or Wide-Ranging Innovation Make Firms More Resilient?
    Daniel Crown, The Ohio State University; Anil Rupasingha, USDA Economic Research Service; Tim Wojan, USDA Economic Research Service
  • The Impact of Knowledge Management Strategies on Innovation Outcomes of Rural and Urban Businesses in the United States
    Kathryn Dotzel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Session II: Rural Innovation in Space: Findings from the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey

  • Patenting as Contagion? How Local Employment in Patent Intensive Industry and the Inventive Class Affects the Probability of Applying for a Patent.
    Kathryn Dotzel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Tim Wojan, USDA Economic Research Service
  • Exploring Rural and Urban Firm Innovation: Analysis of the National Survey of Business Competitiveness
    John Mann, Michigan State University; Scott Loveridge, Michigan State University; Giri Aryal, Michigan State University; Satish Joshi, Michigan State University
  • Design, Innovation and Rural Creative Places: Are the Arts an Attractive Amenity, the Cherry on Top, or Secret Sauce?
    Tim Wojan, USDA Economic Research Service; Bonnie Nichols, National Endowment for the Arts