David Audretsch (p)

Sustainability and peace have emerged as policy priorities for regional development. The new policy priority of sustainability focuses on social inclusion across all regional constituents, a more equitable income and wealth distribution, and economic development that is conducive to a healthy and robust environment. The promise of entrepreneurship as a catalyst for peaceful development, both within as well as across regions, is analyzed and explained. Entrepreneurship can provide a conduit for social inclusion, a more equitable distribution of wealth and income and environmental sustainability. However, the efficacy of entrepreneurship as a catalyst for regional development for sustainability depends crucially upon the role of power both within and across regions. How and why the goals of sustainable economic regional development hang in the balance of economic, social and political power is analyzed and clarified, leading to an important new research agenda for scholars of regional science and strategies for thought leaders in business and policy.