Teresa de Noronha Vaz is Professor of Regional Economics, and Economics of Innovation at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve, Portugal. Eleanor Morgan is Senior Lecturer in the School of Management at the University of Bath, UK. Peter Nijkamp is Professor at the Department of Spatial Economics at Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

’Are you interested in an exploration of the potentials of modern rurality? If the answer is yes, this book on new policies in rural areas, strategies for local entrepreneurship and sustainable territorial innovations is essential reading for you.’ Professor Dr Antoine Bailly, University of Geneva, Switzerland ’Vaz, Morgan, and Nijkamp have met an important need in the literature of regional development with The New European Rurality. They focus on the enormous territory and substantial population that is left over when urbanization is discussed. The theory based discussions of entrepreneurship and structural change in peripheral regions are complemented by well researched case studies. This important book completes the core-periphery discussion by providing the other story.’ Professor Lay James Gibson, University of Arizona, USA ’This book...should be welcomed by scholars in the international entrepreneurship field who are interested in small business perspectives...[it] offers a unique insight into the role of rural regions in fostering entrepreneurial activities in Europe...I would recommend this book as an interesting and innovative perspective on entrepreneurship in Europe that is treading on new ground worthy of increased attention.’ Journal of International Entrepreneurship

• Contents: New Perspectives on European Rurality and Entrepreneurship: Rural Europe and small firms: a strategic positioning and synthesis, Teresa de Noronha Vaz, Eleanor J. Morgan and Peter Nijkamp; Entrepreneurship in small enterprises and local development, Teresa de Noronha Vaz. Determinants of structural change in peripheral regions: accessibility, innovative milieu and the innovative activity of businesses in EU peripheral and lagging areas, Andrew Copus and Dimitris Skuras; Human capital as the critical factor for the development of Europe's rural peripheral areas, Lois Labrianidis; Agri-food districts: theory and evidence, Cristina Brasili and Roberto Fanfani; The embeddedness of small enterprises within the rural local economy of small and medium sized towns, Eveline S. van Leeuwen and Peter Nijkamp. New Strategies in Small Business Development: Organizational success factors in local agri-food industries, Gabriella Vindigni, Peter Nijkamp, Giuseppina Carrà and Iuri Peri; The implementation of information and communication technologies in SMEs, Martine Boutary and M-Christine Monnoyer; Break out strategies of ethnic entrepreneurs, Tüzin Baycan Levent, Enno Masurel and Peter Nijkamp; Rural entrepreneurship: an innovation and marketing perspective, Anabela Dinis. Case Studies: The adoption of information and communication technologies among smaller food firms in rural areas of Greece, Elena Georgoudaki, Efthalia Dimara and Dimitris Skuras; The allocation of public support to small food firms in Belgium, Ireland and the UK, Tessa Avermaete, Jacques Viaene and Eleanor J. Morgan in co-operation with Eamonn Pitts, Nick Crawford, Denise Mahon and Xavier Gellynck; A medium term economic outlook for cyclical markets: a case study of Mexican pig farms, Myriam Villegas Sagarnaga, Rene Ochoa Ochoa, González José Salas, Edmundo Haro and Figueroa Guillermina García; Adopting innovations in agriculture: an exploratory analysis using discrete choice models, Shlomo Bekhor, Daniel Shefer and Mordechai Cohen; Assisting small and medium sized enterprises: innovation policies for rural areas, Federica Cisilino; Attitudes to territorial innovation processes in Raia central Ibérica, Felisberto Marques Reigado, Paulo Alexandre Neto and Maria Manuela dos Santos Natário; Index.