In this article, we take note of advances in the entrepreneurial cognition research stream. In doing so, we bring increasing attention to the usefulness of entrepreneurial cognition research. First, we offer and develop a central research question to further enable entrepreneurial cognition inquiry. Second, we present the conceptual background and some representative approaches to entrepreneurial cognition research that form the context for this question. Third, we introduce the articles in this Special Issue as framed by the central question and approaches to entrepreneurial cognition research, and suggest how they further contribute to this developing stream. Finally, we offer our views concerning the challenges and opportunities that await the next generation of entrepreneurial cognition scholarship. We therefore invite (and seek to enable) the growing community of entrepreneurship researchers from across multiple disciplines to further develop the "thinkingdoing" link in entrepreneurship research. It is our goal to offer colleagues an effective research staging point from which they may embark upon many additional research expeditions and investigations involving entrepreneurial cognition.

The process of identifying, shaping, and pursuing market opportunities is emerging as a focal point in the field of entrepreneurship. Scholarly efforts to date have considered what happens during this process; it is time to turn attention to how and why. This article examines one such "how" question: how do entrepreneurs think and reason such that they identify innovative opportunities? Specifically, the cognitive processes of mental simulation and counterfactual thinking are proposed as mechanisms by which entrepreneurs identify and develop innovative opportunities. Propositions regarding the application of these cognitive processes to opportunity identification are presented and discussed.

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The perception of market opportunities is acknowledged as a major act in the entrepreneurial process that spurs economic progress and development. This distinctive behavior is also emerging as a central theoretical concern for the discipline. Given the acknowledged importance of opportunity identification, it follows that it should be a central topic in programs that aim to train future entrepreneurs. However, little is known about whether and how this issue is addressed in education. This study examines how entrepreneurship educator-practitioners from fourteen top masters-level entrepreneurship programs in the US conceptualize and teach the opportunity identification process. The results indicate remarkable consistency across programs regarding pedagogical content and approaches. The implications of such consistency for the future of entrepreneurship theory and practice are discussed.

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