Tag: rural innovation

An Examination of the Informational Value of Self-Reported Innovation Questions

October 1, 2022

Self-reported innovation measures provide an alternative means for examining the economic performance of firms or regions. While European researchers have been exploiting the data from the Community Innovation Survey for over two decades, uptake of U.S. innovation data has been much slower. This paper uses a restricted innovation survey designed to differentiate incremental innovators from more far-ranging innovators and compares it to responses in the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE) and the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) to examine the informational value of these positive innovation measures. The analysis begins by examining the association between the incremental innovation measure in the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey (REIS) and a measure of the inter-industry buying and selling complexity. A parallel analysis using BRDIS and ASE reveals such an association may vary among surveys, providing additional insight on the informational value of various innovation profiles available in self-reported innovation surveys.

The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.

June 29, 2020

A summary of “The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.,” by Kathryn R. Dotzel and Alessandra Faggian. Published in Growth and Change, 2019; 50: 515– 547. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12289. This brief was published on June 29, 2020.

Key Takeaways

This study explored the relationship between innovation and knowledge management–the formation of structures that allow businesses to acquire and integrate new knowledge. The specific focus was on external knowledge sourcing–which outside sources firms target for information that supports the development of new and improved products and production processes.
For both rural and urban businesses, sources of information characterized by strong ties and high degrees of trust (“primary” sources) had larger positive impacts on most considered innovation outcomes (compared to “secondary” sources).
When primary knowledge sources were distinguished by industry orientation relative to the business, sources with knowledge bases outside of the business’s industry (“extra-industry” primary sources) had stronger positive relationships with the majority of considered innovation outcomes for rural businesses. Urban businesses, however, seemed to derive relatively equal benefits to innovation from relationships with their extra-industry and “intra-industry” primary sources–those with knowledge bases within the same industry.

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Sources of inspiration matter to business innovation outcomes

June 29, 2020

A summary of “Sources of innovation and innovation type: firm-level evidence from the United States,” by Mehmet Afik Demircioglu, David B. Audretsch, and Timothy F. Slaper. Published in Industrial and Corporate Change, 2019, 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtz010. This brief was published on June 29, 2020.

Key Takeaways

Businesses tap different sources of knowledge and creativity to drive their innovation activities. Different innovation outcomes are associated with different sources of knowledge.
Customers, workers, and universities are sources of knowledge positively associated with all types of innovation activity.
Universities had the statistically strongest effect, suggesting that they are critical to innovation.

Tag: rural innovation

An Examination of the Informational Value of Self-Reported Innovation Questions

The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.

Key Takeaways

Sources of inspiration matter to business innovation outcomes

Key Takeaways

Innovation, Broadly Measured, and Its Effects on Business and Community Economic Health