Supporting an Innovation Culture within Rural & Northern Communities
Are you a community innovator? Does your community support and encourage innovation?
The following document provides a great resource for community leaders and individuals to review and work through to identify areas of innovation that are happening in your community and across the region. TAKING control and building the type of community where are children and families are able to thrive is what this work is all about ...
from http://www.innovativecommunities.ca
A Framework for Innovative Rural Communities
Supporting an Innovation Culture within Rural & Northern Communities
The Innovative Rural Communities project has been undertaken by a collaborative led by the University of Guelph along with three independent consultants specializing in rural development: M.E. Robertson & Associates, Alpha Projects and C. Lang Consulting.
Northern Distinctions ...
Although the research shows many similarities in terms of the innovation process and the conditions that enable innovation to flourish across rural and northern communities, the unique characteristics and conditions of northern communities warrant special reference.
- Northern communities express an understanding that they are the masters of their own destiny and responsible for the future of their communities. Communities of interest in the north are finding ways to overcome differences to address common community goals. Volunteers are playing a critical role in innovation and are being encouraged and supported. Youth out-migration issues are a priority among northern innovators.
- Northern regions are vast. Innovators in the north are, however, finding ways to work within these large areas to aggregate needs and pool resources. Northern communities are embracing and innovating with new information technologies as a way of overcoming isolation, addressing service provision and access, and providing business links for dispersed populations.
- Community and business representatives are looking at new opportunities associated with legacy industries in the natural resources that build on local knowledge and skills. Collaboratives with community agencies, business, educational and research institutions and governments are making these innovations possible. On the other hand, niche businesses and community-based initiatives are also helping to expand the local economy beyond the traditional resource industries.
Why rural innovation?
Many rural and northern communities today are surviving — not thriving. Yet rural innovators are creating new opportunities and bringing a sense of renewal to their communities and regions. Innovation is alive and well in rural Ontario!
Rurality is key — not a barrier — to these innovations. Innovation is one way to harness rural assets and put them on the path to progressive change. Innovators and their ingenuity have always been important in northern and rural communities. Nurturing this spirit in your communities is what Innovation Pathways is all about.
“Innovation responds to needs and establishes what you do. There is a healthy discontent with the way things are, and innovation addresses this discontent.”
- Rural Innovator
What is innovation?
When you work with these tools, think about innovation in its broadest sense. Innovation is about new products, processes and markets. It’s also about change.
Innovation for what?
Innovation can be for commercial purposes — a new product, service or market. For instance, value-added production of wood or agricultural products is an innovation for commercial purposes.
Innovation can be for community development. For instance, a community might lobby for new broadband services. Or it might start planning how to combine efforts for a new economic or cultural activity.
Innovation can be for environmental or natural resource management. For instance, a community might design new recycling services or form a wind energy co-operative.
Innovation can be for public program or policy. For instance, a community might develop a new land use policy. Or it might create a youth mentorship program.
Looking at your community through the ‘innovation lens’
When you look for innovation in your community, be sure to look for projects that are having different kinds of impacts. You may find creative projects that benefit individuals, organizations or businesses. Innovators in these cases are often overlooked. Think about the potential these projects have for benefiting more people in your community. Try to include everyone whose ‘know-how’ could be an asset in your innovation planning.
And try to include local innovators to look at things through the ‘community lens’. Are they planning a project that might create work? Have they linked up with local training and employment services?
Finally, remember to look at innovations that reach beyond your local community. These may bring in new wealth by making the most of both regional and local assets. Rural innovators need to think globally as well as locally — both to find good ideas and to market their innovations.