1. Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
and Regional Policy
Erik Stam
International Conference on University-Based Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (ICUBERD)
Theory, Empirics and Practical Implementation
Pecs, Hungary, December 2, 2016

2. Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Reflects three shifts:
Societal: from Managed Economy to
Entrepreneurial Economy (Thurik, Stam &
Audretsch 2013)
Policy: from the quantity of entrepreneurship to the
quality of entrepreneurship (Stam et al 2012)
Scientific: from equilibrium economics to
complexity economics (Beinhocker 2007)
…contextual approaches to entrepreneurship (Stam 2010)
…ecological approaches to business strategy (Adner 2012)

3. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Approach
the other 3S
I. Has the promise of synthesizing prior
academic work on entrepreneurship &
regional development
II. Might provide a more systemic view on how
regions evolve, and the key role of ambitious
entrepreneurship in this
III. Provides a new perspective on the role of the
different stakeholders involved in the
ecosystem

4. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
• a set of interdependent actors and factors
coordinated in such a way that they enable
productive entrepreneurship within a
particular territory (Stam & Spigel 2016)

5. I. Synthesis of academic work on
entrepreneurship & regional
development

6. Entrepreneurship & regional development:
academic evidence base
• Talent
• Knowledge
• Capital
• Intermediate services
• Networks
Fundamental causes of long term economic growth:
• Institutions (formal, informal)
• Physical infrastructure
• Effective demand

7. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Innovative
start-ups
High-growth
start-ups
Entrepreneurial
employee activity
Productivity Income Employment Well-being
Support services
/ intermediaries
Value creation
Outcomes
Outputs
Entrepreneurial activity
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements

8. Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Research Synthesis
• Accumulation of knowledge, instead of fads
and fashions (including the EE approach…)

9. II. Systemic view on how regions
evolve, and the key role of
ambitious entrepreneurship

10. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
Aggregate Value CreationOutcomes
Outputs Entrepreneurial Activity
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements
Networks Leadership Finance Talent Knowledge
Support services
/ intermediaries
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem as a Complex System:
• Non-linear causal relations
– emergence, randomness, impossible to predict long-term
– but: ‘chance’ favours the prepared region…
• Feedback effects
– long term evolution
• Interdependence of elements
– penalty for bottleneck

11. International Conference on University-
Based Entrepreneurship and Regional
Development (ICUBERD)

13. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Support services
/ intermediaries
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements
The framework conditions that enable/constrain the development and interaction of actors
in the entrepreneurial ecosystem

14. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Support services
/ intermediaries
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements
Hermann Hauser - Cambridgeshire
1978

15. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Support services
/ intermediaries
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements
Hermann Hauser - Cambridgeshire
1998
1997

16. Cambridgeshire high-tech economy
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
year
establishments
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
50000
employment
high-tech establishments high-tech employment

17. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elementen
Formal
institutions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Support services
/ intermediaries
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements
Hermann Hauser - Cambridgeshire
Two types of people: leaders (entrepreneurs) and feeders (people who support startups, such as government agencies,
funders, service providers). While the "feeders" are the very fabric of the community, the entrepreneurs must be in the lead.
Brad Feld (2012)
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
2010

18. III. Stakeholders involved in the
ecosystem

19. Diagnosis & Debate,
Before (Policy) Prescription
• Diagnosis: ‘objective’ facts + debate

20. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Innovative
start-ups
High-growth
start-ups
Entrepreneurial
employee activity
Productivity Income Employment Well-being
Support services
/ intermediaries
Value creation
Outcomes
Outputs
Entrepreneurial activity
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements

21. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Framework
as a tool for Diagnosis & Debate
• A framework presents elements and relationships that
provide a grammar for the debate. These debates tend
to be productive in that they are fine grained—people
can move past areas of agreement, focus on areas of
disagreement, and analyze why they hold different
beliefs. They either achieve a consensus or make a
decision knowing precisely where and why they
disagree. (Adner 2016)
• In the case of disagreement, the debate will highlight
critical assumptions that stakeholders should be
particularly mindful of as the Entrepreneurial
Ecosystem further evolves

22. Diagnosis & Debate,
Before (Policy) Prescription
• Diagnosis: ‘objective’ facts + debate
– What are the bottlenecks in the EE?
– Who can best tackle these bottlenecks?
• Stakeholders: Leaders & Feeders of the EE

23. Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Engaged Scholarship
• Conversation with stakeholders of research:
Between Scylla and Charybdis?
Ivory tower science <-> theory led by policy

24. Formal
institutions
Framework
conditions
Systemic
conditions
Culture
Networks Leadership Finance Talent
Physical
infrastructure
Demand
New
knowledge
Innovative
start-ups
High-growth
start-ups
Entrepreneurial
employee activity
Productivity Income Employment Well-being
Support services
/ intermediaries
Value creation
Outcomes
Outputs
Entrepreneurial activity
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Approach

25. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Approach
the other 3S
I. Synthesis of academic work on
entrepreneurship & regional development
II. Systemic view on how regions evolve, and
the key role of ambitious entrepreneurship
III. Stakeholders involved in the ecosystem

26. Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
and Regional Policy
Erik Stam
International Conference on University-Based Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (ICUBERD)
Theory, Empirics and Practical Implementation
Pecs, Hungary, December 2, 2016