Evolutionary entrepreneurial ecosystems: a research pathway

The recent widespread interest of policy in entrepreneurial ecosystems has been complemented by a burgeoning academic research output. This research to date may be broadly categorized as focusing on place, actors, governance, and evolution. Of these groupings, evolutionary processes have been paid least attention despite their centrality to a dynamic ecosystem phenomenon that evolves from an origin through processes of growth, adaptation, and resilience. To redress this imbalance, we frame a future research agenda on evolutionary processes of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Foremost amongst these are the competing lens for the evolutionary processes, the appropriate and evolving geographic scope and boundaries of the ecosystem, and the evolving visible or invisible modes of governance. Methodologically, we call for greater use of longitudinal studies of such evolutionary processes.

Automated summary

The recent interest in policy towards entrepreneurial ecosystems has been accompanied by an increase in academic research output. Current research mainly focuses on place, actors, governance, and evolution, with the least attention being paid to evolutionary processes. To address this imbalance, a future research agenda on the evolutionary processes of entrepreneurial ecosystems is proposed, emphasizing the competing lens for these processes, the evolving geographic scope and boundaries of the ecosystem, and the evolving modes of governance. Methodologically, there is a call for greater use of longitudinal studies of these evolutionary processes.