Title page

Contents

Acknowledgements 5

Executive summary 8

1. Social innovation in a local context 10

What are social innovations? 10

Rural development and social innovation 11

Notes 17

2. An approach for exploring social innovation readiness in rural areas 18

Measuring social innovation and its facilitating factors is challenging 18

What is possible to measure at the rural level? 21

The way ahead 22

3. Exploring the measurement of framework conditions for social innovation in a rural context 24

What is possible to measure? 24

Culture and behaviours 26

Laws and regulations 29

Existing policy framework and institutional set up 32

Social innovation community 35

Resources available 36

Notes 38

References 39

Table 3.1. Dimension 1. Culture and behaviours - suggested indicators 27

Table 3.2. Dimension 2. Laws and regulations - suggested indicators 31

Table 3.3. Dimension 3. Policy framework and institutional setup - suggested indicators 34

Table 3.4. Dimension 4. Social innovation community - suggested indicators 36

Table 3.5. Dimension 5. Social innovation resources available - suggested indicators 37

Figure 2.1. Analytical framework for a local social innovation ecosystem 22

Figure 3.1. Dashboard structure 25

Boxes

Box 1.1. Rural-urban linkages: What are they, and why do they matter for social innovation? 12

Box 1.2. Selected hindering and supporting factors for social innovation in rural areas 14

Box 1.3. Digitalisation in rural areas and how it impacts social innovation 16

Box 2.1. Examples of relevant data sources 19

Box 2.2. Example of Unit Cost Database in Portugal: One Value 20

Box 3.1. Potential approaches to calculation of scores 26

Box 3.2. The Dumfries and Galloway Community Planning Partnership, Scotland, UK 33