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Entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities: establishing the framework conditions

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Abstract

This study focuses on regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and offers a complex model of start-ups, Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) and six domains of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (culture, formal institutions, infrastructure and amenities, IT, Melting Pot and demand). Altogether they capture the contextual features of socioeconomic, institutional and information environment in cities. To explain variations in entrepreneurship in a cross-section of 70 European cities, we utilize exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling for regional systems of entrepreneurship using individual perception surveys by Eurostat and the REDI. This study supports policymakers and scholars in development of new policies conducive to regional systems of innovation and entrepreneurship and serves as a basis for future research on urban entrepreneurial ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the participants of the Conference on National Systems of Entrepreneurship in Mannheim 20–21 November 2014, Babson Conference in Natick, MA on June 10–13, 2015 and second International workshop in on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Innovation and Regional Competitiveness at Henley Business School, University of Reading, December 12–13, 2014 for their helpful comments. We appreciate suggestions from Professors Erik Stam, Mark Casson, Tomacz Mickiewicz and Dr. Julia Korosteleva. Special thanks to Prof. Erik E. Lehmann, Prof. Georg Licht and other Special Issue editors for enriching the contributions of this work.

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Audretsch, D.B., Belitski, M. Entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities: establishing the framework conditions. J Technol Transf 42, 1030–1051 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-016-9473-8

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