Urban and rural areas differ in economic, social and environmental terms. Due to the diverging dynamics in urban and rural areas, the social and economic distance between them might increase in the future even more. Rural entrepreneurs with linkages to urban areas are able to bridge the rural–urban divide by accessing some of the urban features, such as knowledge and markets, while at the same time profiting from the advantages of their peripheral location. This paper highlights exploratory results from qualitative interviews with rural entrepreneurs, and we illustrate entrepreneurial linkages to urban centers. The interview data show that rural entrepreneurs with rural–urban linkages develop sensibility for core market demands and trends, they valuate rural assets, and they combine rural and urban sources of knowledge for innovation. Through their entrepreneurial activity, rural entrepreneurs with linkages to urban areas might constitute an opposite force to polarizing concentration of economic activities in cities. Hence, rural entrepreneurs with urban linkages might contribute to sustainable economic relationships between urban and rural areas.

Entrepreneurship and innovation processes are important dynamics that shape the development of peripheral regions. Regional policy increasingly takes these dynamics into account when trying to foster development in non-core regions. This paper provides the foundation for understanding the role of entrepreneurship in peripheral regions. We first review general characteristics of so-called peripheral regions and their implications for fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. We then investigate the state of research on these dynamics in the context of Switzerland. Finally, we present an overview of the central findings of the papers in this special issue.

Over the last decades, the economic development and, in particular, entrepreneurial dynamics in small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) have mostly gone unnoticed (Bell and Jayne 2009; Lorentzen and v...

Mountain regions are generally seen as depopulating. However, in the European Alps, a new migration trend can be observed that may represent a reversal of out-migration from these regions. The in-migration of so-called new highlanders brings people from lowland urban and peri-urban areas to mountain regions to live and work. Research on the economic and social contributions of these new highlanders is sparse, and there are no studies that focus on their entrepreneurial activities. This study examined the characteristics and contributions of new highlander entrepreneurs and found that they are unlike traditional amenity migrants who migrate because of quality of life. New highlander entrepreneurs migrate not only for quality of life reasons, they moreover follow business opportunities and contribute to the economic and social life of their chosen locations. Based on attributes such as personal circumstances, recognition and exploitation of opportunities, business strategies, and economic and social contrib...

This article examines the impact of the emerging model of open innovation on state public policy, particularly the practice of technology-based economic development in weak research and development (R&D) states. Open innovation describes the nascent practice of firms using knowledge created outside their boundaries and also marketing ideas they would not commercialize themselves. Firms engaging in open innovation thrive on knowledge spillovers, and weak R&D regions could benefit from this model through the creation of Marshallian externalities. It is therefore interesting to ask whether weak R&D states take advantage of this model. This case study analysis shows that states involved in the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research partially support the emerging open innovation paradigm. All states have science and technology strategies and actively support and invest in their higher education infrastructure. They show variation in their support for university—industry partnerships, entrepreneurship, capital access, commercialization, and technology transfer. None of the states, however, uses the open innovation framework explicitly.

This paper examines how a second-tier high-technology region leveraged corporate assets—mostly from transnational firms—in building a knowledge-based economy. The paper reviews how firm building and entrepreneurship influence the evolution of a peripheral regional economy. Using a case study of Boise, Idaho (the US), the research highlights several important sources of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial firm formation is closely linked with a region's ability to grow incubator organizations, particularly innovative firms. These innovative firms provide the training ground for entrepreneurs. Firms, however, differ and the ways in which firm building activities influence regional entrepreneurship depend on firm strategy and organization. Thus, second-tier high-tech regions in the US are taking a different path than their well-known counterparts such as Silicon Valley or Route 128 around Boston.