How knowledge-based local and global networks foster innovations in

rural areas
Gesine Tuitjer, Patrick Küpper
In Journal of Innovation Economics & Management Volume 33, Issue 3,
September 2020, pages 9 to 29

This document is the English version of:

Gesine Tuitjer, Patrick Küpper, «How Knowledge-Based Local and Global Networks Foster Innovations in Rural Areas», Journal of
Innovation Economics & Management 2020/3 (No 33) , p. 9-29

Available online at:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.cairn-int.info/journal-of-innovation-economics-2020-3-page-9.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to cite this article:
© De Boeck Supérieur | Downloaded on 02/11/2020 from www.cairn-int.info (IP: 120.21.223.179)

© De Boeck Supérieur | Downloaded on 02/11/2020 from www.cairn-int.info (IP: 120.21.223.179)

Gesine Tuitjer, Patrick Küpper, «How Knowledge-Based Local and Global Networks Foster Innovations in Rural Areas», Journal of
Innovation Economics & Management 2020/3 (No 33) , p. 9-29

Electronic distribution by Cairn on behalf of De Boeck Supérieur.

© De Boeck Supérieur. All rights reserved for all countries.

Reproducing this article (including by photocopying) is only authorized in accordance with the general terms and conditions of use for
the website, or with the general terms and conditions of the license held by your institution, where applicable. Any other reproduction,
in full or in part, or storage in a database, in any form and by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited without the prior written
consent of the publisher, except where permitted under French law.

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

 How Knowledge-Based
Local and Global Networks
Foster Innovations in Rural
Areas1
Gesine TUITJER
Thünen-Institute of Rural Studies
Braunschweig (Germany)
gesine.tuitjer@thuenen.de

Patrick KÜPPER
Thünen-Institute of Rural Studies
Braunschweig (Germany)
Patrick.Kuepper@thuenen.de
© De Boeck Supérieur | Downloaded on 02/11/2020 from www.cairn-int.info (IP: 120.21.223.179)

© De Boeck Supérieur | Downloaded on 02/11/2020 from www.cairn-int.info (IP: 120.21.223.179)

ABSTRACT
This paper deals with innovative entrepreneurs in rural areas, and the
knowledge-related processes of business development in an institutionally
thin region. It is well-known that businesses in peripheral areas benefit from
extra-local knowledge flows. Here, we add to this literature through a focus
on micro-businesses and through a fine-grained analysis of the interplay of
different types of knowledge throughout the stages of the innovation biogra-
phy. We present findings from three explorative case studies from the rural
northeast of Germany. The results show that extra-local knowledge sparks
the seed innovative idea and is important in marketing the final craft-prod-
uct, but local ties are relevant in the actual production process. We conclude
that global knowledge flows are conducive to innovation processes even of
micro-businesses in peripheral areas. Therefore, rural development should
not focus exclusively on fostering local networks.
KEYWORDS: Innovation, Rural Areas, Peripheral Areas, Knowledge base, Craft-Food
JEL CODES: O31, R11

1.  Acknowledgements: The study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
Federal Rural Development Scheme (2815LE007). We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for
their thoughtful comments, and the editors for their encouragement.

n° 33 – Journal of Innovation Economics & Management 2020/3 9

DOI: 10.3917/jie.033.0009
 Gesine Tuitjer, Patrick Küpper

Innovation tends to be an urban topic (Shearmur, 2015). The institutional

framework, including universities and research centers, the highly skilled
workforce (Asheim, Coenen, 2005) and the creative cosmopolitan milieu
(Bathelt, Glückler, 2018) are repeatedly identified as fostering an exchange of
knowledge and thus innovation. The exchange of knowledge in the broad-
est sense has been studied extensively with regard to localization economies,
such as agglomerations, industrial districts or clusters (Aoyama et al., 2011).
Common to all these concepts of geographically-concentrated economic
activity is the importance of local knowledge-exchange, be it an “atmosphere
in the air” (Marshall, 1890), “buzz” (Bathelt et al., 2004) or knowledge-spill-
overs. Rural areas are often viewed as peripheral and dependent on knowl-
edge and capital transition from an urban core. Manufacturing (Rosenfeld,
Wojan, 2016) and sectors connected to the extraction and processing of pri-
mary resources such as agriculture, mining and food- or wood-processing still
play an important role in rural economies (Marini, Mooney, 2006), and low
numbers of high-skill and high-salary financial or legal service jobs charac-
terize rural areas. In sum, they lack the agglomeration benefits conducive to
innovation. However, rural areas’ potential for endogenous development is
central to spatial development policies. Their innovative activities are rec-
ognized in the realm of social innovations (Neumeier, 2012; Bock, 2016) and
© De Boeck Supérieur | Downloaded on 02/11/2020 from www.cairn-int.info (IP: 120.21.223.179)

© De Boeck Supérieur | Downloaded on 02/11/2020 from www.cairn-int.info (IP: 120.21.223.179)

are assumed to benefit from the close-knit local networks in rural communi-
ties. High levels of embeddedness, i.e. close and trustworthy contacts, are
also believed to foster business cooperation (Ring et al., 2010).
Although in general rural or peripheral economies face the above-men-
tioned problems, they are nonetheless much more diverse than often assumed
(and social relations are less harmonious and cooperative than imagined)
and their entrepreneurial and innovative potential has not yet been fully
acknowledged (Atterton, 2016). In fact, rural and urban economies are
highly interdependent (Bosworth, Venhorst, 2018). Rural entrepreneurs or
those in peripheral locations can be well connected to global flows of knowl-
edge, resources and products (Dubois, 2016). In the same vein, entrepreneurs
can be embedded in various social relations and only some of them are
locally bound. This connectedness can be a way to overcome the “thinness”
(Tödtling, Trippl, 2005) of their rural location.
Against this background, we want to explore the influence of local and
extra-local knowledge possessed by innovative entrepreneurs. We also con-
sider how these flows of knowledge influence the innovation process. We
argue that different forms and spatial sources of knowledge are important
in different phases of the innovation process. In our case of innovative craft
products, global symbolic knowledge informs the seed idea as well as the

10 Journal of Innovation Economics & Management 2020/3 – n° 33