REFRAMING RURAL INNOVATION FOR GREY-BRUCE COUNTY, CANADA

Traditionally, innovation in Canada and internationally has been driven by metropolitan areas. This has resulted in non-metropolitan communities growing a sense of being “left behind” regarding policies that leverage research and development or support innovation. This has made it difficult to have the same type of economic growth associated with innovation in technology sectors with respect to traditional industries that have homes in rural communities.

​

Smart Specialization is a strategy that supports local communities to identify and develop their own regional research and development strengths and opportunities, thereby creating a competitive advantage that is uniquely local. At the root of Smart Specialization is bringing together local actors (i.e., stakeholders) to develop opportunities for communication, network, collaboration, and ultimately, building and maintaining partnerships. The purpose of the Reframing Rural Innovation research study is to apply and test a framework to support innovation-based regional economic development in Canada: The Boundary region in British Columbia and Grey and Bruce counties in Ontario.

 

We conducted interviews and workshops for Grey-Bruce counties and the purpose of the workshop was to collect more-in depth information about the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for innovation; to co-generate innovation strategies; and, to develop, test, and refine the frameworks being used. In other words, the information that was collected on the frameworks about the Grey-Bruce community was analyzed, in addition to analyzing how the frameworks themselves were received (and identify potential areas of improvements).

In addition, the team developed trends for the future of rural Canada to further the investigation of the workshops.

 

See the detailed report for the Healthy Communities Conference 2022 by CCSI as the outcome of the workshops.