Article on New Hampshire’s “quiet” innovation highlights NERCRD research

In this opinion piece written for the New Hampshire Business Review, Dr. Charlie French (University of New Hampshire Extension) cites NERCRD research on “latent” or hidden innovation, and provides several examples of “quiet innovation” from rural New Hampshire communities that are leading to gains in employment, income, and quality of life. Dr. French leads UNH Extension’s Community and Economic Development team.

New method of analyzing networks reveals hidden patterns in data

September 12, 2019

A new way of measuring how relationships in a network change over time can reveal important details about the network, according to researchers at the Northeast Regional Center and the Korean Rural Economic Institute. For example, when applied to the world economy, the method detected the greatest amount of network change during 2008-09, the time of the global financial crisis.

Location, location, location: Where and how do food hubs flourish?

July 29, 2019

For a new food hub to succeed, it should be located in a community with a population sufficient to sustain it, according to a team of economists, who found that a county seeking to establish its first food hub needs roughly 182,000 residents for that food hub to break even. Their findings could help funding agencies establish criteria to determine whether and where new food hubs should be added.

“Innovation Issues” research brief series launches with a look at a new measure of rural innovation

July 26, 2019

Smaller and rural businesses innovate in ways that are often missed by traditional measures of innovation and, as a result, little is known about their innovation activity. However, through a funding program administered by the Northeast Center in collaboration with the USDA Economic Research Service, three research teams have broadened our understanding of how rural businesses are innovating and the effects such innovation is having on communities. With the goal of distilling some of their findings for a general audience, the Northeast Center is launching a new series of research briefs. The first focuses on a new, broad measure of innovation that provides insight into the effects of innovation on the economic health of communities and businesses.

New faces at the Northeast Center

July 25, 2019

We are pleased to welcome several new scholars to the Northeast Center!

Toolkit for surveying and mapping local/regional food system assets now available

July 25, 2019

Looking for ways to better understand your local food system? A new toolkit, developed by Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County, may be used to support projects seeking to acquire a more robust understanding of local/regional food system assets.

Connecting downtowns and trails: new infobrief provides key findings from multi-state inquiry

July 24, 2019

With funding from the Northeast Center, a team of Extension staff and faculty from five states explored how communities can leverage their existing trail systems to promote vibrant downtown economies. They’ve recently released an infobrief that summarizes what they learned.

Penn State’s Ted Alter part of team receiving United Nations Public Service Award

July 23, 2019

Ted Alter, professor of agricultural, environmental and regional economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, is among an international group of community, industry, government and academic leaders who are being lauded for their work to help manage an invasive and destructive species in Australia. The team has received the 2019 United Nations Public Service Award, the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.

Still time to register for the 2019 Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation!

July 23, 2019

The National Extension Tourism Design team has been busy planning their biennial conference, and the program is taking shape. There’s still time to register for this conference, taking place in the port city of Astoria, Oregon October 8-11.

Save the Date: NACDEP is coming to the Northeast in 2020!

July 23, 2019

The National Association for Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) 2020 conference will take place May 31-June 3 in Portsmouth, NH. For a peak at what’s in store, check out a video produced by planning committee members from the University of New Hampshire!

Measuring network rewiring over time

June 29, 2019

A new paper by Stephan Goetz and former Northeast Center research associate Yicheol Han advances the field of network science by introducing a new method of measuring how relationships in networks change over time. It was published in PLOS ONE this month.