Reports

Scotland (UK) is a strong innovator, ranking among the top 20% of economies among European regions, with strengths in university-firm collaborations and skills for innovation. With close to two-thirds of all growth in productivity from 2010 to 2018 coming from better use of resources in remote rural areas, rural areas are critical to economic prosperity. In addition to the valuable heritage that they offer, rural areas in Scotland have had remarkable achievements over the past decade in terms of economic growth, social innovation and progress for climate mitigation. Unlike the demographic decline perceived in OECD countries, the decline in rural areas of Scotland is much slower. In the case of accessible rural areas, the population is still growing. In part, much of the progress of ensuring well-being in rural areas, is supported by mechanisms to link entrepreneurs with researchers, regional support for entrepreneurs and an established system of social entrepreneurship. This report sets the scene, reviews main policies and programmes impacting rural innovation, and explores the importance of social innovation in rural areas. It provides recommendations to reinforce some of the good practices in Scotland, which is particularly important as the government implements the new National Innovation Strategy.

This working paper examines the role of networks and rural-urban linkages to absorb and enhance innovation in rural regions, placing a special focus on the distinctive characteristics of rural areas that drive the different ways they adopt and diffuse innovation. After a review of the literature on innovation and innovation adoption through networks and linkages for rural areas, three enablers of innovation absorption and diffusion through networks and linkages are discussed: place-based networks focusing on digital infrastructure; linkages between people via migration flows; and firm-based networks including university-industry linkages, international trade and foreign ownership, and clusters. It also provides some policy-takeaways.

Building on strong local roots to address local development challenges, many social and solidarity economy (SSE) entities are increasingly extending their operations internationally. By responding to international social and environmental challenges, SSE entities can help make global value chains more inclusive and sustainable. With the pursuit of a social mission and participatory governance at the core of their operations, SSE entities adopt specific approaches to internationalise their presence. Some internationalise to scale their impact to reach more people and areas, while some do so to deepen their impact on existing target groups by leveraging resources internationally. This paper analyses what SSE internationalisation involves and its specific drivers (chapter 1), trends in SSE internationalisation (chapter 2), competitive advantages and barriers of the SSE for internationalisation (chapter 3), and actionable areas for policy makers to promote its internationalisation (chapter 4).

The frequency and severity of extreme wildfires are on the rise in Portugal, causing unprecedented disruption and increasingly challenging the country’s capacity to contain losses and damages. These challenges are set to keep growing in the context of climate change, highlighting the need to scale up wildfire prevention and climate change adaptation. This paper provides an overview of Portugal’s wildfire policies and practices and assesses the extent to which wildfire management in the country is evolving to adapt to growing wildfire risk under climate change.