Rural innovation ecosystems and leading wellbeing

Innovation ecosystems are an emerging concept to describe place-based clusters of companies and other organisations, interacting for growth, development and sustainability, often focused around an ‘anchor institution’. Most successful examples operate in urban contexts. Literature on rural innovation suggests that the nature and needs of rural businesses can be different. This article reviews some of the key themes, including skill needs, aspirations and motivations of rural professionals, suitability of anchor institutions and leadership. Rural areas are known to have different demographic structures from urban ones. In particular, the tendency to attract highly qualified, but growth-reluctant, professionals, as ‘in-migrants’ is discussed. We hypothesise that a successful rural innovation ecosystem should focus more on sustainability, wellbeing and balance, rather than primarily on ambition and growth. The needs of individuals may also be more important than those of business units and a focus on skills development could be desirable.