Strengthening applied rural innovation in rural-urban linkages

Abstract

Efforts to reduce the rural-urban gap are expected to be able to erode the poverty gap, grow job opportunities, and increase rural economic growth. This research aims to analyze strategies for strengthening rural innovation and reducing the rural-urban development gap. This research itself was conducted in 2022-2023 in 4 provinces: West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta. The analytical methods used are the Location Quotient, Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA), and Quintuple Helix Innovation (QHI). Based on the LQ analysis, the study villages are centers of superior agricultural commodities. Agribusiness activities are related to the socio-economic areas of the surrounding cities, such as upstream (production facilities) to downstream (marketing) activities. The results of the SLA analysis show several innovations supporting the development of superior commodities, starting from the cultivation subsystem to digital-based marketing infrastructure. Furthermore, QHI's analysis shows that these more developed villages are supported by the synergistic strength of the five pillars driving innovation, where village government figures and reformers have an important role and are key to accelerating the village economy. Strengthening cooperation on these five pillars also strengthens applied rural innovation so that accelerating rural economy and rural-urban economic linkages are sustainable.