Grassroots Opportunities for Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship: Makerspaces in Non-Urban Communities

A revolution has been underway in creating, innovating, and making things. The development of makerspaces is a 21^st century development that is taking place - particularly in large urban locations - throughout the world. More recently, smaller/non-urban communities have witnessed the development of makerspaces as grassroots opportunities for innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. Makerspaces are viewed as setting the stage for economic growth and creative capital development for decades to come. To date, most research has focused on makerspaces in urban settings. This exploratory study extends our knowledge of makerspaces located in small-medium sized/non-urban communities. We found the seeds of true "grassroots" innovation, technology and entrepreneurship are being initiated in the context of small to medium sized and rural communities in the Province of Ontario Canada.¹ The study addresses four questions. (1) Where are non-urban makerspaces located geographically? (2) What types of maker platforms are used? (3) What are the organizational and structural characteristics of these makerspaces? (4) Are these grassroots makerspaces a reflection of a local community's entrepreneurial ecosystem? It provides data to stimulate further discussion on research and policy issues relative to development of non-urban makerspaces.