Matina Magkou (p), Gwenaelle Prigent, Rani Dang

Ioannis Radin

The role of festivals in urban regeneration and regional development has been extensively explored in the literature, with a strong focus on place branding and tourism. However, their potential in fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems remains underexamined. This paper investigates the emergence of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), using Cannes as a case study. Cannes, widely recognised for its prestigious film festival, provides an interesting case of how a globally renowned event can contribute to the development of a sector-specific entrepreneurial ecosystem—in this case, the audiovisual industry.

Drawing on literature on festival and territorial development and entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, we examine how a film festival, typically regarded as a cultural and tourism asset, can serve as a foundation for entrepreneurial activity. The study employs a longitudinal case study approach, integrating qualitative methods such as documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, and participant observation at industry events. Findings suggest that the emergence of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cannes’ audiovisual sector is not a purely organic, bottom-up process, as often assumed in entrepreneurial ecosystem literature. Instead, it is strongly shaped by institutional commitment, strategic branding, and targeted cultural policies. The municipal government, in particular, plays a central role in orchestrating this ecosystem, leveraging Cannes’ global reputation to attract investment, foster industry collaboration, and provide dedicated infrastructure for entrepreneurship in the audiovisual industry. The results challenge traditional entrepreneurial ecosystem frameworks by demonstrating that CCIs, due to their reliance on symbolic capital and cultural policy, often require a more interventionist approach to ecosystem development.

Ioannis Kaplanis (p), Ioannis Radin (p)

Lukas Danko

Cultural festivals and events have emerged as powerful catalysts for local development and tourism, transcending their artistic and cultural significance to become strategic tools for economic growth, employment generation, and infrastructure expansion. This is particularly evident in rural areas, where such events can serve as transformative forces for local economies. The Athens Epidaurus Festival exemplifies this phenomenon, demonstrating how a major cultural event can reshape the economic landscape of an entire region. By attracting visitors from diverse backgrounds, the festival has not only boosted tourism but also stimulated a wide range of business activities in the Epidaurus municipality and the broader Argolida region.
The impact of the Athens Epidaurus Festival extends far beyond the immediate economic benefits of increased tourism. It has played a pivotal role in transforming a traditionally agricultural economy into a vibrant cultural tourism hub. This transformation has led to the development of new infrastructure, the creation of job opportunities in various sectors, and the diversification of the local economy. The Festival's influence on regional development underscores the potential of cultural events as drivers of sustainable economic growth in rural areas. By analyzing data from the festival's audience survey conducted in the summer of 2023 and 2024, this study provides valuable insights into the socio-economic dynamics of festival-driven development strategies, offering lessons that could be applied to other rural regions seeking to leverage cultural assets for economic revitalization.

Grzegorz Micek, Lukas Danko (p), Karolina Kapustka

Matina Magkou

The rationale behind this paper is reflected in the investigation of knowledge flow and the role of proximities through makerspaces. These physical spaces create links between firms, educational institutions and applied research, providing fertile ground for accelerating prototyping and DIY movement. The maker movement has risen from a fringe hobby to a prominent (DIY) lifestyle. The maker movement increases access to tools and training, potentially altering the capability of the general public to participate in product development (van Holm, 2017). Hence, these spaces are creating a positive impact on creating a cultural change by encouraging entrepreneurship in the community, support small business growth, and increase workforce retention (Li & Gao, 2021; Mersand, 2021; Gillespie et al., 2021).
Therefore, the paper focuses on the knowledge flows between stakeholders regarding the local growth. These spaces creative ecosystems of innovation generation with strong knowledge interactions. In the paper, the aim is to study spatial scales of knowledge flows in the selected Central European countries, where makerspaces have seen a more significant increase.
Furthermore, the paper aims to shed some light on dynamics of knowledge networks concerning of both direct and indirect effects of makerspaces on local milieu. The research design is based on empirical qualitative analysis of primary data gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews with stakeholders in makerspaces. The interviews were designed to describe the role of these platforms that facilitate collaboration. The sample includes makerspaces from the Central Europe with knowledge flows concerning global pipelines and local buzz.
The novelty of our empirical research is reflected in identifying spatial scales to distinguies the role of proximity in knowledge transfer through makerspaces. Regarding challenges, the results provide an overview on what are the knowledge flows illustrated by the case studies. The paper presents policy implications to nurture different knowledge flows in and its role in local development. DIY movement provides the potential for cross-curricular connections, collaboration, creativity, innovation, and learning towards prototyping. Furthermore, the research reflect on the knowledge transmission among the central knowledge partners and their respective networks considering different proximities (Boschma, 2005; Balland et al. 2015) to geographical, social, cognitive, insitutional, organisational. Variety of local growth dimensions through makerspaces and main external stakeholders that shape the operations of these knowledge networks is presented in the conceptual framework. Therefore, the paper provides an overview on dimensions of collaborative spaces-driven local development towards competitiveness of creative ecosystems.