Enhancing Rural Innovation in Scotland, United Kingdom
Scotland (UK) is a strong innovator, ranking among the top 20% of economies among European regions, with strengths in university-firm collaborations and skills for innovation. With close to two-thirds of all growth in productivity from 2010 to 2018 coming from better use of resources in remote rural...
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| Autor Corporativo: | |
| Formato: | Libro electrónico |
| Idioma: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Paris :
OECD Publishing
2023.
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| Edición: | 1st ed |
| Materias: | |
| Ver en Biblioteca Universitat Ramon Llull: | https://discovery.url.edu/permalink/34CSUC_URL/1im36ta/alma991009769027006719 |
Tabla de Contenidos:
- Intro
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and acronyms
- Executive summary
- Labour productivity growth in rural Scotland has outpaced urban areas in recent decades…
- …but there is evidence of unequal growth over time and within places…
- There is great potential in the activation of the rural labour force
- Opportunities and support for innovation in Scotland are abundant…
- …however, more can be done to support rural entrepreneurs
- Social innovation plays an increasingly critical role in delivering services to rural communities
- Next steps for innovation in Scotland
- Key recommendations
- Delivering services for innovation and entrepreneurship in rural Scotland
- Improving delivery of innovation programmes in rural Scotland
- Co-ordination initiatives to improve innovation systems
- Social innovation
- 1 Assessment and recommendations
- Assessments
- There is potential for greater labour force participation and skills matching in rural areas
- The share of the population in remote rural areas of Scotland is slowly declining, while the share in accessible rural areas is growing…
- …and individuals in non-metropolitan regions are older
- Women are as engaged in the active labour force as men in rural areas but have lower employment rates
- Labour productivity growth is strong in rural Scotland but there is some evidence of unequal growth
- Labour productivity growth was primarily driven by a "catching-up" effect, yet also resulted in growing inequalities between firms within rural areas
- Challenges in innovation still exist in rural areas within Scotland
- Older firms have a higher share of the rural economy
- Smaller businesses have a higher share of the rural economy
- Small and older firms employ fewer individuals in rural areas.
- Access to international markets can bring more opportunities for smaller and older rural firms
- There are opportunities for innovation in rural Scotland
- Scotland is a strong innovator when it comes to collaborations for scientific publications with SMEs and social innovation
- Scotland is a leader in the adoption of innovations targeted at mitigating climate change through renewable energy resources
- Yet, firms in non-metropolitan regions of Scotland are still stronger contributors to production-based GHG emissions than those in metropolitan regions of Scotland
- Accessible rural areas are distinct from remote rural areas and, as such, have different opportunities and challenges when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship
- Social innovation is an increasingly critical part of delivering services to rural communities
- Recommendations
- Policy design for delivering services for innovation and entrepreneurship in rural Scotland
- Going beyond science and technology-focused support for rural innovation
- Improving access to skills for innovation through vertical and horizontal co-ordination
- Improving delivery of innovation programmes in rural Scotland
- Promoting innovation and experimentation in the delivery of support services
- Strengthening new firm formation, social entrepreneurs and the competitiveness of SMEs
- Co-ordination initiatives can help improve the system of innovation
- Supporting rural entrepreneurs through vertical and horizontal co-ordination
- Overcoming low economies of scale for firms in rural areas
- Social innovation
- Notes
- 2 Understanding innovation in rural Scotland
- Introduction to the landscape of innovation and geography in Scotland
- Demographic challenges in non-metropolitan areas
- Leading by example in innovation for climate change.
- Approaching rural innovation in Scotland through case studies and rural data
- Rural proofing innovation
- Defining rural in Scotland
- Rural innovation
- The structure of the rural economy of Scotland
- Firms and labour in rural areas of Scotland
- Sectoral composition of non-metropolitan regions of Scotland
- Size-based composition of firms in Scotland
- Firm age demography across rural areas of Scotland
- Foreign status of firms in rural areas
- Promoting equal opportunities for innovation amid growth in rural Scotland
- Growth in productivity across territories
- The distribution of productivity between firms
- Promoting diversity and inclusion for innovation in rural Scotland
- Older populations
- Women in rural areas
- Foreign-born individuals in rural areas
- Innovation in Scotland
- Annex 2.A. Additional statistics and analysis
- References
- Notes
- 3 Policies and programmes for rural innovation
- Introduction
- Institutional setting and co-ordination mechanisms
- Core implementing agencies for regional and rural innovation
- Vertical and horizontal co-ordination
- Subnational and local initiatives
- City Region Deals
- Regional growth deals
- Scottish framework programmes for promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in rural areas
- National Performance Framework (NPF)
- The Scottish Government's Programme for Government (PFG)
- The National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET)
- The National Islands Plan
- The National Population Strategy
- The (new) innovation strategy
- EU and UK policy and financing frameworks within Brexit
- European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and UK investment programmes
- EU Horizon 2020 and UK Research and Innovation
- Policy intervention to foster innovation in rural areas
- Population and access to skills in rural communities.
- Increasing the supply of digital and entrepreneurial skills in rural regions
- Fostering apprenticeship training and employer-led opportunities
- Strengthening university hubs for skills upgrading
- Networks and linkages for innovation
- Territorial scale: Transforming rural innovation for better outcomes for people
- Promoting digital infrastructure and connectivity
- Developing innovation networks through clusters and smart specialisation
- Sustaining university networks for innovation
- Investing in innovation and internationalisation
- Facilitating access to finance
- Supporting internationalisation and export markets
- Creating initiatives to support capacity building and encouraging experimentation in rural SMEs
- Conclusions
- References
- Notes
- 4 Social innovation in rural Scotland
- Socio-cultural context and behaviours
- Scotland faces a number of distinctive challenges that make social innovation relevant especially in rural areas
- Scotland has good socio-cultural preconditions for thriving social innovation
- The legal framework around social innovation
- Social Innovation is a known term but its interpretation might vary across Scotland
- Social innovation can be fostered through a variety of legal entity forms in Scotland
- Policy framework around social innovation
- There is a wide range of policies that support social innovation in Scotland
- Implementation of social innovation policies in Scotland tends to be decentralised and not a single institution has a specific mandate to deal with social innovation
- Community Planning Partnership network could play a role as a feedback mechanism around policy implementation in Scotland
- The lack of a centralised point of information around social innovation could hinder some opportunities and growth potential.
- Social innovation actors are present across Scotland and especially in remote rural areas
- Actors engage locally through a variety of platforms, from development trusts to community partnerships
- Available resources
- Public and private finance is available, yet it is difficult for early-stage social innovations to get initial funding support
- Social innovation can benefit from improved physical infrastructure covering rural areas
- Social innovators can benefit from a range of public support programmes to support business development
- Academic presence helped to create knowledge, awareness and analyse the existing ecosystem around social innovation
- Scotland has a track record in experimenting with community wealth building, local assets and land use, which is crucial in rural areas to enable social innovations
- Annex 4.A. Summary
- Strengths
- Challenges
- Policy issues
- References
- Notes.
