Abstract
Research background: Rural regions across post-industrial Europe face persistent structural vulnerabilities such as demographic ageing, selective outmigration and economic monocultures. At the same time, these regions possess underutilised cultural, ecological and social resources that can become drivers of regeneration. While social innovation, heritage-based development and the social economy have been widely examined, attention has been limited regarding how heritage assets can be transformed into diversified service ecosystems and institutionalised within social economy structures. In this context, the concept of rural heritage servitisation offers a useful analytical lens for understanding these processes.
Purpose of the article: This study examines the Lithuanian spa town of Druskininkai as an analytically informative case for exploring how community initiatives reinterpret heritage as a basis for social innovation and economic diversification. It conceptualises rural heritage servitisation as a bridging mechanism between community-led experimentation, service creation and institutionalised social economy structures.
Methods: The study employs a mixed methods case study design combining desk research, policy and document analysis, stakeholder consultations and semi-structured interviews with implementers of six social economy initiatives. Qualitative coding and comparative synthesis are used to identify innovation, servitisation, inclusion and institutionalisation patterns.
Findings & value added: The findings demonstrate how community actors in Druskininkai transform cultural, natural and social heritage assets into diversified education, health, tourism, care and community development services. These initiatives strengthen social cohesion, local resilience and economic diversification while supporting the institutionalisation of social innovation. The study advances theory by positioning rural heritage servitisation as an integrative framework connecting social innovation, servitisation and the social economy while offering new insights into heritage-based pathways of rural transformation. The results contribute empirically by providing a policy-relevant model for implementing European Union’s rural development instruments such as Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l'Economie Rurale (LEADER), Smart Villages and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan 2023–2027.
Lankauskienė, R.; Simonaitytė, V.; Gedminaitė-Raudonė, Ž. 2026. Servitising rural heritage: Social innovation and the social economy in peripheral Europe. Equilibrium - quarterly journal of economics and economic policy : Institut Economic Research-Poland. ISSN 1689-765X. eISSN 2353-3293. 21 (2), p. 709–742. DOI: 10.24136/eq.4292. [Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science); Scopus].