Postdoctoral Fellowship - Rural Business Knowledge Exchange and Innovation: The Contribution of Rural Enterprise Hubs

创新已成为促进经济增长的一个核心概念，其定义为推出新产品或改进流程，这些产品或流程可能具有破坏性和开创性，或与缓慢和渐进的变化相关。现在人们认识到，创新具有某些地理特征，一些地区似乎在创新方面表现出色，而另一些地区则表现不佳。硅谷，旧金山弗朗西斯科周边地区，被广泛誉为世界上最具创新性的地方之一，特斯拉，eBay和苹果等“独角兽”公司的所在地。迄今为止，农村地区在很大程度上被排除在创新思维之外，学者和政策制定者都把注意力集中在城市地区，将其视为创新的理想场所。我的博士论文从文献和我自己的实证调查中提出证据，表明农村地区仍然在区域创新“系统”中发挥作用。为了实现创新，企业需要基础设施来发展和开发新的服务/产品。科学园、孵化器、弹射器和集群等建筑物都是在许多城市环境中创建和研究的，但很少在农村。在英格兰农村地区，通过农村增长网络为企业中心提供资金，在五个试点地区提供急需的就业机会。这些中心提供有形设施，如办公室/车间空间、会议室、办公桌轮用设施、可靠和快速的宽带（对偏远地区至关重要）和公用厨房，以及更多的无形服务，如建立联系的机会、培训讲习班/研讨会和其他获取知识的手段。该研究金的目的是确保研究结果能够为更广泛的受众带来更大的社会利益，特别是为农村地区的未来。在研究金期间将接触到各种不同的受众。首先，三篇论文将发表在针对学术界的高级期刊上。第二，两份《政策和实践说明》将帮助决策者了解农村地区创新思维的未来。第三，编写“最佳做法工具包”时将考虑到中心管理人员。这些报告和成果将通过一系列知识交流活动传播，如互动式讲习班和演讲、参加学术会议以及与业界领先的农村企业中心提供商建立令人兴奋的新伙伴关系。此外，奖学金将通过帮助扩大我的专业网络，获得定量分析的新技能，开始新的合作和撰写新的资助提案来确保我自己的专业发展。

Innovation has become a central concept in promoting economic growth, defined as the introduction of a new product or improved process which can be disruptive and trail blazing or associated with slower and incremental changes. It is now recognised that innovation has certain geographic characteristics, with some regions appearing to excel in producing innovations, whilst others underperformed. Silicon Valley, the region surrounding San Francisco, is widely heralded as the one of the most innovative places in the world, home to 'Unicorn' companies such as Tesla, eBay and Apple. To date, rural areas have largely been excluded from innovation thinking, with scholars and policymakers alike instead focusing attention on urban areas as the ideal sites of innovation. My PhD presented evidence from the literature and my own empirical enquiry to suggest that rural areas still have a role to play in regional innovation 'system'. For innovation to occur, infrastructure is required for businesses to grow and develop new services/products. Buildings such as science parks, incubators, catapults and clusters have all been created and researched in a multitude of urban contexts, but rarely in rural. In the case of rural areas of England, enterprise hubs were funded through Rural Growth Networks (RGN) to provide much needed workspaces in five pilot areas. These hubs provide physical facilities such as office/workshop spaces, meeting rooms, hot-desking facilities, reliable and fast broadband (critical for remote areas) and communal kitchens as well as more intangible services such as networking opportunities, training workshops/seminars and other means of acquiring knowledge. The intention of this fellowship is to ensure the findings of the research reach a wider audience for greater societal good - particularly for the future of rural areas. A range of different audiences will be reached during the fellowship. Firstly, three papers will be published in high ranking journals, aimed at the academic sector. Secondly, two Policy and Practice Notes will help inform policy makers on the future of rural areas in innovation thinking. Thirdly, a 'best practice toolkit' will be written with hub managers in mind. These reports and results will be disseminated through a range of knowledge exchange activities such as interactive workshops and presentations, attending academic conferences and beginning an exciting new partnership with an industry-leading provider of rural enterprise hubs. Additionally, the fellowship will ensure my own professional development by helping to expand my professional networks, acquiring new skills in quantitative analysis, start new collaborations and writing new funding proposals.