Page 262 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

Transforming Rural Economies through Entrepreneurial Networks 251

neurship in the region. The gathering then subdivided into small groups,
each generating ideas for enhancing the entrepreneurial environment in the
region. Unfortunately, the continued development of a regional network is
constrained by a lack of resources to convene and coordinate the group.

Implications for Policy
The major implication of the approach described in this case study is that
effective entrepreneurship policy needs to include investment in developing
entrepreneurial networks, not just assistance to individual firms. Such net-
works can take several forms. Clusters—sets of entrepreneurs with a partic-
ular market focus and other businesses and organizations that support
them—are a basic building block of regional entrepreneurial economies.
Funding for clusters is likely to be most effective when a pool of funds is
available for collaborative projects that generate cluster infrastructure. For
example, a pool of funds for an artisan cluster might support the creation
of an arts incubator, joint marketing brochures, and the development of a
regional arts festival. In addition, funds for cluster organizers (usually agile
and innovative nonprofits such as ACEnet), network weavers (individuals
who take responsibility for introducing arts entrepreneurs to each other and
to support organizations) and for cluster communication systems are criti-
cal for success.
Broader Regional Entrepreneurship Networks are also key to successful re-
gional economies. Effective entrepreneurship policy will support one or
more organizations who catalyze and coordinate such networks in a region.
Such organizations can identify broad regional needs of entrepreneurs and
organize collaborative projects to fill those gaps. In addition, they can intro-
duce entrepreneurship concepts and practices to local officials, and build
skills needed for network building and collaboration. They can also develop
new evaluative and accountability processes, especially those that track and
enhance the quality of the regional networks. Network mapping software
and metrics are available that can be used for these purposes. Finally, such
organizations can help build a new relationship between policymakers and
practitioners so that entrepreneurship policy is flexible enough to support
local experimentation and is capable of moving local successes to scale. In
this way, rural regions, through their own self-organized efforts, will be able
to create prosperous entrepreneurial economies.

NOTES

1. For more information, visit the National Business Incubator Association Web-
site: www.nbia.com.