What does the future of rural development policy look like? How can we ensure appropriate, effective, and efficient policies to support rural areas and their economies? This was the focus of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2018 Rural Development Conference.

The Conference brought together over 400 leading policy makers, private sector and renowned experts to exchange experiences and good practices on issues related to innovation in rural areas, including the development of policies to benefit from the 10 key drivers of rural change, and making the most of opportunities for job creation, economic growth, and service delivery. Dr. Gibson was invited to attend and contribute to the conference.

The dialogues from the conference were incredibly valuable for Canadian rural areas. Discussions focused on service provision, multi-level governance, innovation and smart specialization, and entrepreneurship. Resources from the conference will be available shortly from the OECD’s website. For more information on the conference visit http://www.oecd.org/rural/rural-development-conference/.