The nexus of digitalization and rural regions is being examined in this dissertation. It is using the firm type of Hidden Champions (HCs) as a case study for this connection. HCs are little-known small- and medium-sized global or continental market leaders. Due to their long-lasting business success, they have been framed as an integral factor and as representative of the prosperity and resilience of the German Mittelstand. Featuring a high innovative capacity, HCs have disproportionately high export ratios and extensive international sales networks. Rural areas are the central spatial context of this dissertation: They host the majority of HCs in Germany and face resource constraints concerning digitalization. The overarching research question of this dissertation is as follows: How do Hidden Champions in rural Germany deal with digitalization, and what is their role in their home region and its digitalization? Employing a qualitative research approach to examine these questions, 57 semi-structured interviews with HCs and regional actors from four German regions are analyzed. First, I find that rural HCs differ in their potential and risk assessment, and resource availability regarding digitalization. As a consequence, four novel types of HCs are identified: Digital Hidden Champions, Hidden Champions of Digitalization, Traditional Hidden Champions, and Digitalization-Skeptical Hidden Champions. Second, integration of HCs in regional innovation systems is influenced by several factors, including ownership structure, firm size, organizational status, location economies, and urbanization economies. Third, I show that HCs strategically use measures of corporate local and regional responsibility and exert place leadership to develop digitalization-related assets in their rural regions. Motives for these actions are grounded in a perceived lack of swiftness and capacity of public actors, but also entail emotional attachment to the region, particularly for family businesses.