Rural 2.0?: Investigating Place-Based Rural Innovation Systems & their Implications for Public Policy & Community Development Practice

Abstract

We live in an era obsessed with innovation. So much so that in 2016, the Government of Canadabegan work on a new national‘Innovation Agenda’ with the following proposition: “Innovationis a Canadian value. It’s in our nature, and now more than ever, it will create jobs, drive growthand improve the lives of all Canadians. It’s how we make our living, compete and providesolutions to the world. We have the talent, the drive, the dedication and the opportunity tosucceed. So, what’s next?” However, as every public consultation on the Innovation Agenda tookplace in a major city and produced initiatives with names like ‘the Smart Cities Challenge,’ itseems like ‘what’s next’ is a national innovation conversation so steeped in unquestioned urbanism that it fails to even acknowledge, let alone include, rural Canadians. This doctoralresearch project will use a comparative case study approach to investigate the complexrelationships at play in place-based rural innovation systems and provide grounded, illustrativenarratives for informing public policy.