Scientific Paradigms,Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Cycles in Economic Growth

In this paper I present a model of economic growth that combines insights from endogenous growth theory, the field of entrepreneurship research and the philosophy and economics of science. The model is built on three relatively standard assumptions and a Kuhnian approach to scientific knowledge accumulation. I assume that innovation generates economic growth, that opportunity driven entrepreneurship is an important source of innovation, that entrepreneurial opportunities increasingly arise out of scientific knowledge creation and that science follows Kuhnian paradigm shifting dynamics. The model then generates opportunity driven cycles in entrepreneurial activity that in turn cause waves of innovation and cycles in economic growth. This result is highly relevant and fills a gap in all three literatures as ‚traditional’ endogenous growth models typically generate constant growth rates in the steady state, entrepreneurship research keeps the origin of entrepreneurial opportunity exogenous and the literatures on the philosophy and economics of science ignore the important downstream economic implications of the non-profit driven institutional framework that governs scientific knowledge accumulation. This paper contributes by identifying scientific institutions and entrepreneurial activity as prerequisites for economic growth and it offers a tentative explanation for the rise and fall in the levels of scientific, entrepreneurial and economic activity over the Kondratieff-cycle.      

Discovering the entrepreneurial micro‐ecosystem: The case of a corporate accelerator

Faced with a proliferation of initiatives like corporate accelerators, entrepreneurial ecosystems see emerge new spaces that we can call entrepreneurial micro‐ecosystems. A micro‐ecosystem is a local open system interacting with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and driven by an actor or group of actors capable of fostering dynamics of innovation and entrepreneurship. The literature has tended to focus on the macro and meso levels leaving behind the microlevel and the strategies implemented by the actors that could lead to the creation of micro‐ecosystems. In this study, we consider corporate accelerators, still little studied, as entrepreneurial micro‐ecosystems. We propose to take a structural and strategic approach in order to better understand the attributes and the strategies put in place by these actors from a multilevel approach. A qualitative study was conducted on a corporate accelerator and the results reveal the importance of strategic attributes in terms of legitimacy, coopetition, and business model.     

What Europe Needs Is an Innovation‐Driven Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: Introducing EDIE

With entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems appearing in geographic pockets around the world in diverse places and pockets of growth, the call for an entrepreneur‐driven innovation ecosystem (EDIE) in Europe is long overdue. Change remains a constant, and traditional industries and mature markets in Europe have left a vacuum in the path to economic growth. The need for a new model is immediate. If Europe is to find itself providing competitive leadership in the global business environment, a new philosophy is necessary to move forward in the twenty‐first century. This is the thinking behind the imperative for an EDIE in Europe, which is presented in this article as a result of a long established effort to awaken a European response to an increasingly contracting environment. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Digital sport entrepreneurial ecosystems

The entrepreneurial ecosystems literature has increasingly explored network relationships between different stakeholders, as well as the role of context. This article addresses the challenge of including a sport context in the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature thereby contributing to the sport entrepreneurship literature by bringing insights from entrepreneurship ecosystem research. In‐depth interviews of football stakeholders in the sport entrepreneurship ecosystem are conducted in terms of understanding the emergence of digital sport start‐ups. The issues raised help explore the changing nature of digital entrepreneurial ecosystems to take into account new sport technological advances. Mixed embeddedness theory is used as the conceptual foundation to understand sport digital entrepreneurial ecosystems. Key management practices are identified in terms of sport start‐ups participating in entrepreneurial ecosystems. The article concludes by making suggestions for future research.     

Entrepreneurial ecosystems: Future research trends

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are gaining ascendancy as one of the most popular topics discussed in the international business literature. This is due to the way they incorporate cultural, economic, social, and political considerations in an evolutionary view of how entities interact in society. Due to an increased emphasis on digitalization and the knowledge economy, it helps to take an ecosystem view when discussing and analyzing entrepreneurship. The aim of this article is to discuss future research trajectories in research, practice, and policy on entrepreneurial ecosystems. Thereby contributing an anthropocosmic view to how entrepreneurship exists and its role in contributing to a more open and inclusive global economy. Specific research and managerial tracks are stated that highlight the importance of investing in an entrepreneurial ecosystem mindset where everything is connected.     

How do entrepreneurs' cross-cultural experiences contribute to entrepreneurial ecosystem performance?

While research on the cross-cultural experience of entrepreneurs has demonstrated that exposure to diverse cultures is beneficial for new venture growth, it has neglected the performance implications of entrepreneurs’ cross-cultural experience at the ecosystem level. This study endeavors to explore the micro-macro link between cross-cultural entrepreneurs and the performance of entrepreneurial ecosystems in which they are embedded. Building on the dynamic capability perspective, we argue that entrepreneurial ecosystem orchestrators can leverage entrepreneurs’ cross-cultural experiences to develop ecosystem dynamic capabilities and consequently improve entrepreneurial ecosystem performance. Based on multi-wave survey data of 2,981 business incubators in China, our findings show that cross-cultural entrepreneurs are positively associated with entrepreneurial ecosystem performance via increased ecosystem innovation. Moreover, the integrative capability of ecosystem orchestrators moderates the relationship between cross-cultural entrepreneurs and ecosystem innovation. Our findings contribute to the literature on cross-cultural experience by extending it to the ecosystem level and inject fresh insights into the dynamic capability literature by uncovering the formation process of ecosystem dynamic capabilities.     

科学支撑未来决策：英国技术预见的经验与启示

随着科技的不断发展，科学要素在决策过程中发挥着越来越重要的作用，不但影响着当下政策的制定，也塑造着未来政策的走向。为了更好地应对未来的挑战，许多国家施行了技术预见计划，20世纪70年代，日本成为第一个进行技术预见的国家，并带动了20世纪90年代欧洲的技术预见热潮。在诸多开展技术预见的国家中，英国是全面实施技术预见的代表性国家之一，创新研究的兴起、科学对于经济发展的推动、识别新兴通用技术方法论的产生是英国开展技术预见的主要动因，从1994年至今，英国开展了三轮技术预见，英国技术预见的经验可以在高层管理、方法多元、过程公开和成果推广等方面为我国提供借鉴。     

How entrepreneurship ecosystem influences the development of frugal innovation and informal entrepreneurship

This article critically analyses how the entrepreneurial ecosystem and institutional environment influences the development of frugal innovation and informal entrepreneurship. There is a dearth of empirical research on African entrepreneurship ecosystems and complementors that produce innovations in the informal sector. We address this gap, by examining why and how informal businesses operate and evolve. Based on a qualitative approach, interviewing 20 business owners in Nigeria, two focus groups meeting with 5 and 7 business associations leaders, respectively, we examine the role of institutional environments, how entrepreneurs operate and overcome the barriers to entrepreneurship. The results reveal a model of determinants of frugal innovation and informal entrepreneurship ecosystem comprising formal/informal rules, access to market, and family as important elements that act as a means to effective knowledge flows, networking, capital, and resources sharing.     

The adaptive life cycle of entrepreneurial ecosystems: the biotechnology cluster

We propose an empirical framework for assessing the vibrancy and trajectory of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. We apply this framework to study the US National Capital Region’s localized cluster of biotechnology-related entrepreneurship by building our analysis around a set of indicators of ecosystem vitality proposed by Stangler and Bell-Masterson (2015). This application constitutes an initial attempt at mapping the dynamics of an industry cluster within the adaptive life cycle of a wider regional ecosystem. We find that the biotechnology cluster in the National Capital Region entered a “reorientation” stage in the early 2000s, building up stored energy, capital, and connectedness in non-research-oriented activities. An increasing regional presence of large biotech firms in the past 5 years, a highly active and diverse start-up sector, increasing merger and acquisition activity, and declines in regional public funding for medical and clinical trials all suggest a transition of entrepreneurial activity in the region from a dynamic driven by federal research spillovers to one increasingly driven by private sector actors.     

Public Pension Reform in Europe: Policies,Prospects and Evaluation

This paper describes the demographic and economic factors underlying the reform of public pension programmes in Europe. It examines the policy response, both at the Europe‐wide level and within individual European countries. Several programme reform strategies that have been implemented are evaluated. These strategies are the greater pre‐funding of public pensions and expanded second‐tier private pension components, ‘parametric’ reforms to existing programmes, and the development of formula‐driven ‘actuarially fair’ public programmes. Efforts to provide greater incentives for individuals to postpone retirement are also discussed.     

Entrepreneurial ecosystems

International business fundamentally is about creating an ecosystem environment conducive to entrepreneurship. This means fostering actions and behavior that provide a systemic interaction with multiple entities. In this editorial for the special journal issue, the historical background and origins of the entrepreneurial ecosystem concept is discussed with the view to connected different strands of literature. This provides an optimal way to understand the way entrepreneurship develops through an ecosystem logic. The theoretical perspectives for understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems are discussed that lead to a discussion on each of the articles included in the special journal issue. Themes emerging from these articles are then stated that include a focus on value co‐creation, stakeholder collaboration and entrepreneurial networks. This enables a holistic way to understand the linkages international business has with entrepreneurial ecosystems.     

The paradox of new venture legitimation within an entrepreneurial ecosystem

The current rise in research on entrepreneurial ecosystems notes that many questions are still unanswered. We, therefore, theorize about a unique paradox for entrepreneurs trying to establish legitimacy for their new ventures within and beyond an entrepreneurial ecosystem; that is, when pursuing opportunities with high levels of technological or market newness, entrepreneurs confront a significant challenge in legitimizing their venture within an entrepreneurial ecosystem, while those entrepreneurs pursuing ventures using existing technologies or pursuing existing markets have a much easier path to garnering legitimacy within that ecosystem. However, the diffusion of that legitimacy beyond the ecosystem will be wider and more far-reaching for those pursuing the newer elements compared to those using existing technologies or pursuing existing markets, thus, creating a paradox of venture legitimation. Prior research outlines approaches for new venture legitimacy but it is unclear when these approaches should be applied within and beyond an entrepreneurial ecosystem. To address this paradox, we integrate ideas from the entrepreneurship and innovation literature with insights from the legitimacy literature to describe how different types of venture newness employ different legitimation strategies which results in different levels of legitimacy diffusion beyond an ecosystem. We conclude with a discussion of our concepts and offer suggestions for future research efforts.     

新时期地球科学发展与地学创新人才培养的思考

面对人类社会发展的新格局和经济社会发展的新需求,地球科学研究视域、学科任务、知识体系和方法手段等正酝酿着新的变革。面对经济社会大转型和新时期地球科学的发展,创新体制机制、培养地学创新人才是地质教育义不容辞的责任和重要课题。创新人才有类别和层次之分,可以区分为学术创新人才、技术创新人才和创业人才,应遵循＂尊重意愿、鉴识潜力、分类培养、通专结合、以专为重＂的方针进行培养。最后给出了一个成都理工大学实施创新人才培养的典型案例。     

Looking inside the spiky bits: a critical review and conceptualisation of entrepreneurial ecosystems

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has quickly established itself as one of the latest ‘fads’ in entrepreneurship research. At face value, this kind of systemic approach to entrepreneurship offers a new and distinctive path for scholars and policy makers to help understand and foster growth-oriented entrepreneurship. However, its lack of specification and conceptual limitations has undoubtedly hindered our understanding of these complex organisms. Indeed, the rapid adoption of the concept has tended to overlook the heterogeneous nature of ecosystems. This paper provides a critical review and conceptualisation of the ecosystems concept: it unpacks the dynamics of the concept; outlines its theoretical limitations; measurement approaches and use in policy-making. It sets out a preliminary taxonomy of different archetypal ecosystems. The paper concludes that entrepreneurial ecosystems are a highly variegated, multi-actor and multi-scalar phenomenon, requiring bespoke policy interventions.     

How institutions and gender differences in education shape entrepreneurial activity: a cross-national perspective

Previous studies offer evidence that human capital obtained through education is a crucial explanation for cross-national differences in entrepreneurial activity. Recently, scholar attention has focused on the importance of education in subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the promotion of entrepreneurial activity. To our knowledge, empirical evidence for this link is scarce, despite the emphasis made in the literature and by policy makers on the choice of study at the tertiary level. Given that differences in STEM education are particularly large between men and women, we utilize data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 19 European countries and the USA. We study the role of these differences in STEM education at the national level for three stages of the entrepreneurial process: entrepreneurial awareness, the choice of sector for entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial growth aspirations. We also test whether the effects of gender differences in education is moderated by the nature of the institutional environment in which entrepreneurs operate. Our findings show that individual-level explanations including education account for the gender differences during all three stages of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, countries with greater gender equality in science education are characterized by higher entrepreneurial activity in knowledge-intensive sectors and high-growth aspirations. Thus, next to individual-level education, closing the gender gap in science at the national level can benefit a country as a whole by stimulating innovative entrepreneurial activity.     

Does culture still matter?: The effects of individualism on national innovation rates

Does a society's culture affect its rate of inventive activity? This article analyzes several independent datasets of culture and innovation from 62 countries spanning more than two decades. It finds that most measures of individualism have a strong, significant, and positive effect on innovation, even when controlling for major policy variables. However, the data also suggest that a certain type of collectivism (i.e. patriotism and nationalism) can also foster innovation at the national level. Meanwhile, other types of collectivism (i.e. familism and localism) not only harm innovation rates, but may hurt progress in science worse than technology.     

The campus as entrepreneurial ecosystem: the University of Chicago

This paper employs Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis of American democracy to construct a framework for understanding the U.S. university campus as an entrepreneurial ecosystem. One question that immediately comes to mind when studying ecosystem performance is what the proper unit of analysis is: the country, the state, the city, the region, or something smaller, like an incubator or accelerator? This paper suggests that the open, innovative American frontier that closed at the end of the twentieth century has reemerged in the entrepreneurial economy on the U.S. campus. The contemporary campus entrepreneurial ecosystem offers the characteristics of Turner’s frontier: available assets, liberty, and diversity while creating opportunity, and fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. A case study of the University of Chicago explores governance of the campus as an entrepreneurial ecosystem and the output produced by that campus ecosystem.     

Maryann Feldman: Recipient of the 2013 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research

This article reviews the scientific contributions of the 2013 recipient of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research, Maryann Feldman, Heninger Distinguished Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina. Maryann Feldman is well known for her contributions to the study of the geography of innovation. A central focus of her work is on the role of entrepreneurial activity in the formation of regional industry clusters. She has studied entrepreneurial events involving both individuals and teams and the role of knowledge spillovers and finance in geographical clustering. She has also addressed other important aspects of contemporary entrepreneurship research, such as how academic entrepreneurship is influenced by intellectual property rights and modes of finance and how high-technology entrepreneurship aligns with public policy and the geography of innovation. The most significant impact of Maryann Feldman’s scientific output lies in research on firm location, inter-firm knowledge spillovers, and clusters/regional development. Her research addresses macro aspects of industry evolution, micro-level aspects of firm strategy and organization, as well as meso-level aspects of institutions, infrastructures, and policy. The Global Award consists of 100,000 euro and a statuette by the internationally renowned Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.     

Entrepreneurship and strategic thinking in business ecosystems

Success in business ecosystems that include well-established companies and new ventures requires collaboration and competition, a task that demands strategic thinking to leverage a firm's resources and capabilities. Strategic thinking and the entrepreneurial activities in an ecosystem influence one another in a cycle that perpetuates and even sparks innovation. These interactions vary significantly across four types of business ecosystems—Orchestra, Creative Bazaar, Jam Central, and MOD Station—and determine the success and failures of new ventures and established companies. The nature and effect of the dynamic interactions in a business ecosystem can have profound implications for organizational success.