Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>While especially rural regions struggle to grow economically, startups – important drivers for regional economic growth – mainly settle in cities. Business founders usually start a firm where they live and only afterwards decide where to locate the business on a long‐term plan and on the basis of economic considerations (Feldman, 2001). Existing literature explains when and why startups usually move (Stam, 2007) but does not differentiate between rural or urban regional aspects. On the basis of a descriptive analysis of 6,550 German startups and several in‐depth interviews, this article discusses indicators that can support or inhibit the increasing settlement of specifically digital start‐ups in rural regions. Results show that nearly the same total number of digital startups move from urban to rural regions and vice versa. Further results raise the assumption that digital startups in particular are not as bound to local access to aspects such as customers or suppliers. Digitization could increase the potential for rural regions to become more competitive with urban regions than before.</jats:p>