The Innovative Rural Communities Project is a collaborative project exploring the nature and scope of rural innovation in Ontario and developing innovation tools for rural communities.

The Innovative Rural Communities project was launched in the fall, 2003. This is a multi-year, collaborative project that has been designed to determine the nature and scope of innovation happening in rural and remote communities across northern and southern Ontario, and to develop resources that will support rural communities in their innovation planning efforts. The collaborative led by the University of Guelph, also involves three independent consulting firms specializing in rural development - M.E.Robertson and Associates, Alpha Projects and C.Lang Consulting. This collaborative approach has brought together the skills and expertise, background, and resources to address such an important issue.

The first year of the IRC has been significant in providing a broad framework of understanding concerning rural innovation. A comprehensive report of findings and recommendations has been produced and is available online at http://www.innovativecommunities.ca. A detailed literature review of innovation in the social, economic, and community contexts has provided the foundation for the IRC study.  An innovation typology, a means of classifying rural innovation by sector, scope, purpose and location was developed.  Through a series of in-depth interviews with rural innovators, the characteristics of the rural innovator were explored along with the innovation cycle, the stages through which an innovation traverses. Factors enabling innovations were identified through the development and administering of a Rural Innovation Index.