The countryside of North-Eastern Germany is characterized by declining population size, and this 'shrinking' has severe impacts upon the regional quality of life, land use and infrastructure planning. However, population decrease in these regions is just one symptom of an overall process of peripherization, which needs to be addressed not only in terms of demographic change, but in the context of restructuring global relations and societal change. While debates on coping strategies still focus on technical innovations and the redefinition of planning standards, we suggest the creation of more flexible planning frameworks that leave space for placeadequate, adaptive and participatory solutions.

Despite billions of euros of economic and infrastructural support, East Germany has experienced neither economic recovery in the form of the 'flourishing landscapes' promised by Helmut Kohl in 1989, nor a boom in innovation. Instead, the region is undergoing processes of accelerating demographic change: declining birth rates, selective migration-mainly of young women between 15 and 25-and as a result, an ageing population. The results include peripheralization of rural regions and marginalization of social groups. It is time to think about alternatives to classic forms of economic and infrastructural support, and to seek and foster potential for innovation beyond the traditional forms of market-oriented product innovation. Examples include process innovations in the public sector, services such as e-government, and new concepts of geriatric care and education that can, in turn, help to maintain the quality of life in peripheral rural areas. Following introductory comments, the authors examine the overall concept of innovation to identify the key issues at stake for rural innovations. Then, after describing the specific situation in rural northeast Germany, they discuss several innovations that can increase the quality of life in such areas.

Die ländlichen Räume Nordostdeutschlands sind Abwanderung und Alte rung der Bevölkerung sowie wirtschaftlicher Stagnation ausgesetzt. Gleichzeitig nimmt die Nachfrage nach ihren natürlichen Ressourcen stark zu. Am Beispiel des Bioenergiesektors werden die Potenziale innovativer Landnutzungen für die Entwicklung der Region analysiert.Rural areas in North-East Germany experience out-migration and aging of their population as well as economic stagnation. But at the same time the societal demand for the natural resources of rural areas strongly increases, e.g., for the provision of food, energy, and environmental services. This article questions whether this demand is able to trigger innovation that absorbs or reverses the economic and social marginalisation of rural areas. The emerging bioenergy industry is used to exemplify the various aspects of the innovation concept and to analyse the interactions between different fields of innovation. It is concluded that rural areas need systemic innovations. Rural development effects can be achieved if regional contexts are considered and if learning innovation cultures institutionalise collective exchange and negotiation processes.

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