Spatialities of entrepreneurial ecosystems

Abstract

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has gained tremendous attention in academia across different scientific disciplines. This start-of-the-art contribution addresses the most recent lineages of the entrepreneurial ecosystem debate from a spatial perspective: measurement of entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurial evolution, novel actors, institutions and events, governance as well as gender in entrepreneurial ecosystems. The theoretical advancements will be critically reviewed by examining the implicit and explicit spatial references. The paper also highlights the potential of using spatial analysis for entrepreneurial ecosystems, drawing on four different understandings of space.

Understanding women's performance of entrepreneurship in the Sri Lankan context

“…Recent research on women entrepreneurs shows the gendered nature of the spaces occupied by women entrepreneurs (e.g., Ekinsmyth, 2013;Luo and Chan, 2021;Rodríguez-Modroño, 2021). Yet, Schäfer (2021) argues that when the speciality of entrepreneurship is examined it is often by using space as a way of locating the study participants. As a result, the understanding of space as perceived and socially constructed is significantly under-recognised in entrepreneurship research, which promises to be a fruitful avenue for advancing gender and entrepreneurship research.…”

Digital ecosystem, entrepreneurial ecosystem and economic development as enablers of digital technology entrepreneurship

“…The emergence of entrepreneurship as one of the crucial tools to promote development and growth of an economy, the scientific research on the EES as an enabler of entrepreneurship development and new venture creation has generated rapid interest in the subject (Acs et al, 2017; Garg & Gupta, 2021; Malecki, 2018; Schäfer, 2021). Several studies have expressed an EES as a set of entrepreneurial actors and institutions involved in creating a conducive environment for entrepreneurship development and new venture (Isenberg, 2010; Mack & Mayer, 2016; Pitelis, 2012; Stam & van de Ven, 2021; Wurth et al, 2022).…”

A Transdisciplinary Spatial Approach to Creating a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Regional Development

“…It signifies the degree to which social networks linking EE participants, investors, entrepreneurs, support organizations, and other stakeholders are provided with the opportunity to interact and participate [22]. The factors of R&D, number of patents, capital access or support, governance, government financial support also add to the technological dynamism and build dynamic capabilities p p g for VEE, which creates entrepreneurial cognition and a co-creation ecosystem [23]- [27]. This cognition attribute will allow the EE to reconfigure itself to maintain vibrancy and growth.…”

“…A cluster of startups represents the ecosystem itself with a spatial concentration of interconnected small firms. The lack of conceptualization regarding the spatial features of the ecosystem concept remains underdeveloped [27]. This article presents a model to conceptualize how interconnectivity increases "activity" within an EE using a spatial concentration model to define a measurement for vibrancy.…”