Ana Daniel (p)

Florian Grebe

Traditionally, the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) has provided a place-based perspective on promoting entrepreneurship, especially productive entrepreneurship. Previous research has explored the systemic and framework conditions necessary for fostering entrepreneurship (e.g. Audretsch & Belitski, 2017; Stam, 2015) within specific geographic boundaries, such as cities (Spigel, 2017), communities (Cohen, 2006) or countries (Hechavarría & Ingram, 2019). However, as Audretsch, Fiedler, et al. (2024) highlight, “not everything that needs to be in place for fostering entrepreneurship needs to be in the same place”. This challenges the traditional view that entrepreneurship is primarily shaped by local structures and policies. To address this limitation, the authors introduce the concept of Geographically Unbounded Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (UEEs) - entrepreneurial networks and digital communities that enable access to resources and knowledge beyond physical boundaries. In addition, some authors argue that territorial specificity has diminished relevance in a context of digitalization (Song, 2019; Autio et al., 2018). Driven by globalization, digitalization, and interconnectivity, UEEs allow entrepreneurs to leverage a diverse mix of resources from multiple regions and ecosystems. This perspective aligns more closely with the opportunistic approach entrepreneurs usually adopt, emphasizing flexibility and the ability to navigate global opportunities rather than being constrained by local conditions.
Nevertheless, there remains a limited understanding of how and why entrepreneurs build global networks that connect multiple EE, and how local EE support this process, and how it influences the evolution of EEs themselves (Wurth et al., 2022).
The present study aims to fulfil this gap by assessing how entrepreneurs navigate, leverage, and contribute to both local and global entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), particularly within the context of UEEs, through a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs of a Portuguese EE and data analysis following Gioia et al. (2013)'s approach. Furthermore, it explores the role of local EEs in enabling or constraining these processes and how these interactions, in turn, shape the evolution of EEs themselves.
Understanding these dynamics requires a shift in perspective - from viewing EEs as static, place-bound structures to recognizing them as fluid, interconnected systems that evolve through entrepreneurial agency. Results show that place-based ecosystems provide valuable but sometimes insufficient resources, prompting entrepreneurs to seek external opportunities; local EEs face challenges in engagement, communication, and inclusivity, limiting their impact; entrepreneurs strategically engage with multiple ecosystems to maximize benefits; the decision to integrate into an ecosystem is guided by factors such as logistics, networking, and fiscal incentives.

Florian Grebe (p), Angelika Krehl

Veneziano Araujo

Many regions face structural change processes as well as socio-economic and societal challenges. Regarding the Regional Innovation System (RIS) framework, these challenges can be mitigated by utilizing regional endogenous potential through innovation and cooperation between regional actors from the quadruple helix. Among other things, social innovations (SI) are suitable for strengthening the future viability of a region. A deep understanding of SI is required to leverage the regional endogenous potential. Apart from the context-providing research questions regarding who the innovation actors are and what resources they provide, we focus on what triggers the collaboration, divided into motivation and impulse to cooperate. We address this question by conducting a collective case study in two cities in the Lower Rhine region of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), focusing on nine SI with 43 guided interviews. The interviews were conducted with SI representatives, innovation actors’ representatives, and regional networkers, who provided an overview of the SI landscape in the respective city. By conducting thematic analyses, we found that the motivation of innovation actors ranges from strategic micro-interests, strategic macro-interests, and the shaping of social and political space to the intrinsic motivation of decision-makers. Furthermore, the direction of the cooperation impulse varies greatly in terms of the popularity and establishment of the SI and depends on the networks of individuals and companies as well as the regional focus. The findings inform the scientific community and policymakers, and we use them to derive policy recommendations for strengthening regional SI.

Veneziano Araujo (p), Rosina Moreno, Ernest Miguelez

Simona Iammarino

The relationship between transport infrastructure and innovative performance of firms and individuals is a main research topic. Recently, some studies tried to evaluate how investment in transport infrastructure improve innovation in regions. In general, they point that better transport infrastructure reduces travel costs and save time that increases inventors contacts improving innovation in regions. In 2014, Brazil hosted FIFA World Cup and this mega-event motivated a major expansion in airport infrastructure in several cities. Indeed, this event fueled massive investments including a 50% surge in airport capacity in the country. Using data from this period we evaluate how airport capacity correlate with patent activity in Brazil. To do so, we use airport passengers register and patent data filed in Brazil from 2002 to 2019. Since 21 cities had been candidates to venue matches and only 12 were selected to receive investment, we use non-selected candidate cities as a counter factual. Using a fixed effects panel and a difference-in-difference method we estimate the relation between passengers and innovation within 50 miles from the airports. Our preliminary results provide evidence that the more is the number of passengers in a region the more is the innovation. We find an increase in the number of patents in regions that occurred the expansion of the airports, but this result is more pronounced for international coinvented patents. We also perform some additional robustness tests.

Simona Iammarino (p), George Yunxiong Li

Ana Daniel

The existing literature has extensively explored the technological evolution of regions, although little attention has been devoted to the underlying tangible material factors. Critical raw materials (CRMs) – such as rare earths and metals – are fundamental inputs to cutting-edge technologies, and the stability of their supply chains plays a crucial role in shaping the innovation environment of local enterprises. This paper uses China's prefecture-level cities as a case study to examine the relationship between the local supply conditions of 15 CRMs and regional patent output. After controlling for endogeneity, we find that the local supply of critical raw materials influences both the quantity of regional patent output and the technological specialization paths of regions. Furthermore, we show that this impact is moderated by the regional industrial base, the resource ownership, and innovation policies. While the Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) literature has traditionally emphasized knowledge flows, human capital, and institutional frameworks, this study broadens this perspective by incorporating the case of CRMs. We demonstrate that material availability can steer technological trajectories within regions, leading to more concentrated innovation paths based on local resource endowments. This highlights that regional innovation is not only a function of knowledge, talent and other intangibles, but also deeply dependent on material resources and their supply conditions.