Intermediary Governance and Relational Dynamics in Rural Innovation Ecosystems: Evidence From a Peripheral Territory

ABSTRACT Rural innovation ecosystems are increasingly promoted as governance mechanisms for addressing territorial decline in peripheral rural areas. However, existing research often overlooks how ecosystem coordination is shaped by institutional fragmentation, uneven participation capacities and relational asymmetries. This study critically examines intermediary governance within the Territorial Innovation Centre (TIC) of Teruel, Spain, through a qualitative case study combining documentary analysis, 19 semi‐structured interviews and exploratory survey data. The findings show that the principal territorial challenge is not simply demographic decline but the difficulty of sustaining coordination across dispersed actors, municipalities and governance scales. The TIC operates primarily as an intermediary governance structure facilitating ecosystem articulation and collaboration. However, participation and access to collaborative spaces remain unevenly distributed, frequently favouring actors with stronger institutional connections. The study further reveals the coexistence of strong local bonding ties and fragile bridging dynamics, highlighting the relational limits of coordination within fragmented rural governance environments.