Countryside and Innovation: A Document Analysis of the Relationship Between The Districts and Innovation

Abstract

Countrysides all over the world are in decline and have been so for decades. The negative development of the Norwegian countryside, or districts, has been on the political agenda since the 1950s. Nevertheless, the districts had political instruments dedicated primarily to them, but since 2004 they have been placed under the Innovation Norway umbrella. This thesis explores the reasons for the coalition between innovation and districts and how it has developed from 2004 till 2020. Ten official documents from the period have been analyzed and discussed in light of innovation literature. The research finds that the districts have regarded innovation as key to the countryside's reinvigoration and still do in 2020. On the other hand, innovation policy has dedicated substantial financial resources to the districts but have not dedicated strategic focus to the districts. The relationship between innovation and countryside is reasonably one-sided and counterproductive - geographical conditioned support drains resources from innovative non-district-based businesses, and the value creation in the districts does not increase; in fact, it can contribute to its depopulation.