The 13th OECD Rural Development Conference has concluded with the delivery of the Cavan-OECD Roadmap on Strengthening Rural Resilience against Global Challenges.

The 2-day Conference convened around 500 delegates from 30 OECD countries, including Government ministers, senior policy makers and stakeholders in the rural sector. One of the key highlights was the new OECD report on Unlocking Rural Innovation.

The report finds that in the midst of a global slowdown in productivity, unlocking the innovative potential of rural places is more important than ever. As part of a series on helping rural areas thrive, this thematic report provides the latest analysis and research on rural innovation, and proposes ways to overcome the growing gaps between rural and urban places that are contributing to the geographies of discontent.

It first explores the multi-facetted innovative practices that are already occurring in rural places, and proposes alternative indicators beyond the traditional science and technology measures to capture them. Then it identifies policy drivers and bottlenecks to help rural entrepreneurs, firms and people fully mobilise their growth potential.

Results and recommendations are drawn from research and fact-finding missions from select OECD member countries. It is also worth checking an interesting report on the same topic for Switzerland.