“Rural areas are surprisingly entrepreneurial.”
That is one of the findings from Colorado State University Professor Stephan Weiler and his fellow researchers who recently studied startups and business creation in both rural and urban areas. The findings also showed that the businesses created in these rural areas tend to be more resilient than urban startups and have higher survival rates (1990-2007).
Linking rural areas’ lower costs, entrepreneurial culture and amenities to the dynamic nature of high-growth urban clusters such as those along Colorado’s Front Range can benefit both cities and smaller towns, the study found.
These findings, and many more, about the relationship between and differences among rural and urban areas are the foundation of the newly created Regional Economic Development Institute, or REDI.