High tides make good wines. Knowledge place-based development in the craft wine industry for rural revitalization
Claudia de Fuentes | Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University, Canada
05/06/2025 12:00
Sala Descubre. Edificio 8E. Acceso J - 4ª Planta | Universitat Politècnica de València. 46022 Valencia
The aim of this article is to explore the modalities and processes underpinning knowledge place-based development in rural economies. Current conceptualizations of place-based development fail to provide satisfactory theoretical explanations of the interplay between local specificities, and endogenous and exogenous knowledge sources and actors in rural areas. Our conceptual approach enables us to examine how knowledge place-based development unfold in rural contexts through the notions of capacity building, multi-actors collaboration, and local sense-making. We conducted interviews with winemakers, vineyard owners and with key actors in the sector, our data also included industry reports. We conducted a qualitative analysis anchored on path tracing and structured narrative analysis. We argue that due emphasis should be given to both endogenous and exogenous knowledge sources, and their recombination connected to place is needed to understand how knowledge place-based development unfold in rural regions. The article contains an analysis of the wine industry in Nova Scotia (Canada).
About
Claudia De Fuentes is a Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University (SMU). She is the Program Coordinator of the Master of Management in Cooperatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU). Her research experience includes innovation in organizations and contributions to place-making, systems of innovation, the creation and use of knowledge in a globalized economy, new forms of academia–industry collaboration, and science, technology, and innovation policy.
She is currently working on the following research projects: i) impact assessment of innovation policy, ii) urban coalitions for gateway development, iii) the role of the craft wine industry in Nova Scotia on innovation and place-making, and iv) immigration in the agri-food industry. She has done the research and lectured internationally in Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Vietnam, and Peru on topics such as innovation systems, innovation policy, innovation management, global innovation, and entrepreneurship. She has supervised Ph.D. and Master's theses on related topics. She is an editorial board member of Innovation and Development, the International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation, and Development, and has guest-edited special issues in Science and Public Policy, Innovation and Development, and International Business Review and for SAGE Publications.
