The concept of an ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’ refers to the interaction that takes place between a range of institutional and individual stakeholders so as to foster entrepreneurship, innovation and SME growth.
It was brought into prominence in 2010 by Professor
Daniel Isenberg from Babson College through an article in the Harvard Business Review. However, the concept has its
antecedents in earlier work relating to business and industry clustering, as
well as the creation of National Innovation Systems (NIS) .
The concept of
entrepreneurial ecosystems has gained popularity in recent years, but despite
its popularity, there is not yet a widely shared definition of entrepreneurial
ecosystems amongst researchers or practitioners.
The first
component of the term is entrepreneurial: a process in which opportunities for creating new goods and
services are explored, evaluated and exploited. The entrepreneurial ecosystem
approach often narrows this entrepreneurship down to ‘high-growth start-ups’ or
‘scaleups’, claiming that this type of entrepreneurship is an important source
of innovation, productivity growth, and employment.
It is clear
that the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach does not by definition include the
traditional statistical indicators of entrepreneurship, such as
'self-employment' or 'small businesses' into entrepreneurship. This distinction
between the traditional measures of entrepreneurship and the conceptually more
adequate measures of entrepreneurship such as innovative and growth-oriented
entrepreneurship, is increasingly emphasized in the entrepreneurship literature
.
The second
component of the term is ecosystem. The biological interpretation of this concept in which the
interaction of living organisms with their physical environment is at the
centre is obviously not to be taken too literally. Rather, the entrepreneurial
ecosystem approach emphasizes that entrepreneurship takes place in a community
of interdependent actors.
That is to say,
entrepreneurial ecosystems focus on the cultures, institutions, and networks
that build up within a region over time rather than the emergence of order
within global markets.
Entrepreneurial activity, as an output of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, is considered the process by which individuals create opportunities for innovation. This innovation will eventually lead to new value in society and this is therefore the ultimate outcome of an entrepreneurial ecosystem while entrepreneurial activity is a more intermediary output of the system. This entrepreneurial activity has many manifestations, such as innovative start-ups, high-growth start-ups, and entrepreneurial employees.
REF
1-
2-Enabling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, 2015.
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