The promise of entrepreneurial ecosystems for sustainability transitions
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Entrepreneurs are agents of change, but often not in conditions of their own choosing. These conditions vary considerably place by place, explaining the spatial heterogeneity in the rates of entrepreneurship. The literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), the interdependent actors and factors within particular territories that are coordinated to enable productive entrepreneurship, has provided useful novel insights into the contextual features of local environments and how they impact entrepreneurs and regional development (Mason and Brown Citation2014; Spigel Citation2017; Stam Citation2015; Stam and van de Ven Citation2021).
The EE concept encompasses collaborative arrangements between entrepreneurs and a host of potential resource providers, including governments, universities, sources of finance, corporations, and other entrepreneurs (Brown and Mason Citation2017; Tsouri and Pegoretti Citation2021). But even though the EE framework has had significant impact in scholarly debates about the geography of entrepreneurship, as well as in policymaking processes worldwide (Brown and Mawson, Citation2019), its specific focus on high-growth ventures, regardless of their actual impacts on aggregate socioeconomic development, has received criticism (Audretsch Citation2021; Kuckertz, Scheu, and Davidsson Citation2023; O’Connor and Audretsch Citation2023). The industrial and innovation dynamics directed at high economic growth in these ecosystems has encouraged new business formation and growth without any specific attention to the social and environmental impact of these ventures (Meissner et al. Citation2024). However, in a similar vein, the ‘spatial dimensions of […] transitions have been largely ignored’ (Hansen and Coenen Citation2015, 92), which raises several fundamental questions for scholars focusing on (place-based) EEs and sustainability transitions. These two omissions can potentially be tackled by combining the entrepreneurial ecosystem framework with the sustainability transitions approach.
While our comprehension of EE mechanisms and dynamics has advanced significantly over the last decade (Wurth, Stam, and Spigel Citation2022), our knowledge concerning the effects of EEs on sustainability transitions remains limited until now. With sustainability transitions we refer to socio-technical transitions to sustainability, pointing at the need to create and shape niches that could change socio-technical regimes. These niches are environments or local contexts in which promising solutions and projects can develop for solving environmental problems that threaten societies now or in the long run (Kemp, Schot, and Hoogma Citation1998; Geels and Schot, Citation2007). Entrepreneurial ecosystems can play an important role in enabling sustainable entrepreneurs to create a new niche, shape existing ones, cluster and scale this into new socio-technical regimes. However, existing socio-technical regimes can resist and constrain the emergence and growth of these niches. It is an empirical question to what degree entrepreneurial ecosystems are intertwined with the incumbent regime and are likely to constrain sustainability transitions too, and to what degree they enable sustainable entrepreneurs to create new niches, change socio-technical regimes and achieve more sustainable futures for society. Niche construction for sustainability transitions require innovative solutions (many of them already long overdue) that allow for a rapid reconfiguration of many elements of socio-technical systems (Geels and Ayoub Citation2025), not just a technology or a policy. These features require pervasive transitions to address supply, demand, and institutional structures upon which existing regimes are embedded.
This begs an important question: can a conceptual device constructed to yield insights into the entrepreneurial process in particular localised contexts be utilised to examine the innate complexities of sustainability transitions and all its multi-scaled, multi-faceted, and multi-causal manifestations? The fact that this question is unanswered suggests that there is still substantial ground to cover when it comes to understanding how localised phenomena enable (or constrain) ecosystem-level shifts towards sustainability (Demirel et al. Citation2019; Pinkse, Demirel, and Marino Citation2024; Potluri and Phani Citation2020; Raposo, Fernandes, and Veiga Citation2021).
To help us address these issues, in this special issue we organise a collection of four manuscripts that offer original and sound contributions in the direction of enhancing our knowledge of how EEs enable (or constrain) sustainability transitions. The special issue papers build upon diverse knowledge bases to understand how to shift the evolutionary trajectories of EEs so that they address the ‘wicked’ environmental and societal challenges we face. This, we hope, contributes to a more systematic appraisal of sustainability as a driving force of entrepreneurship – not just as a desirable, but not essential, byproduct of entrepreneurs and their ecosystems. There are expectations that EEs can function as engines of economic development and technological innovation, but it is past time societies also pursue more responsible goals related to what kind of sustainable development we want for us and future generations.
The EE concept encompasses collaborative arrangements between entrepreneurs and a host of potential resource providers, including governments, universities, sources of finance, corporations, and other entrepreneurs (Brown and Mason Citation2017; Tsouri and Pegoretti Citation2021). But even though the EE framework has had significant impact in scholarly debates about the geography of entrepreneurship, as well as in policymaking processes worldwide (Brown and Mawson, Citation2019), its specific focus on high-growth ventures, regardless of their actual impacts on aggregate socioeconomic development, has received criticism (Audretsch Citation2021; Kuckertz, Scheu, and Davidsson Citation2023; O’Connor and Audretsch Citation2023). The industrial and innovation dynamics directed at high economic growth in these ecosystems has encouraged new business formation and growth without any specific attention to the social and environmental impact of these ventures (Meissner et al. Citation2024). However, in a similar vein, the ‘spatial dimensions of […] transitions have been largely ignored’ (Hansen and Coenen Citation2015, 92), which raises several fundamental questions for scholars focusing on (place-based) EEs and sustainability transitions. These two omissions can potentially be tackled by combining the entrepreneurial ecosystem framework with the sustainability transitions approach.
While our comprehension of EE mechanisms and dynamics has advanced significantly over the last decade (Wurth, Stam, and Spigel Citation2022), our knowledge concerning the effects of EEs on sustainability transitions remains limited until now. With sustainability transitions we refer to socio-technical transitions to sustainability, pointing at the need to create and shape niches that could change socio-technical regimes. These niches are environments or local contexts in which promising solutions and projects can develop for solving environmental problems that threaten societies now or in the long run (Kemp, Schot, and Hoogma Citation1998; Geels and Schot, Citation2007). Entrepreneurial ecosystems can play an important role in enabling sustainable entrepreneurs to create a new niche, shape existing ones, cluster and scale this into new socio-technical regimes. However, existing socio-technical regimes can resist and constrain the emergence and growth of these niches. It is an empirical question to what degree entrepreneurial ecosystems are intertwined with the incumbent regime and are likely to constrain sustainability transitions too, and to what degree they enable sustainable entrepreneurs to create new niches, change socio-technical regimes and achieve more sustainable futures for society. Niche construction for sustainability transitions require innovative solutions (many of them already long overdue) that allow for a rapid reconfiguration of many elements of socio-technical systems (Geels and Ayoub Citation2025), not just a technology or a policy. These features require pervasive transitions to address supply, demand, and institutional structures upon which existing regimes are embedded.
This begs an important question: can a conceptual device constructed to yield insights into the entrepreneurial process in particular localised contexts be utilised to examine the innate complexities of sustainability transitions and all its multi-scaled, multi-faceted, and multi-causal manifestations? The fact that this question is unanswered suggests that there is still substantial ground to cover when it comes to understanding how localised phenomena enable (or constrain) ecosystem-level shifts towards sustainability (Demirel et al. Citation2019; Pinkse, Demirel, and Marino Citation2024; Potluri and Phani Citation2020; Raposo, Fernandes, and Veiga Citation2021).
To help us address these issues, in this special issue we organise a collection of four manuscripts that offer original and sound contributions in the direction of enhancing our knowledge of how EEs enable (or constrain) sustainability transitions. The special issue papers build upon diverse knowledge bases to understand how to shift the evolutionary trajectories of EEs so that they address the ‘wicked’ environmental and societal challenges we face. This, we hope, contributes to a more systematic appraisal of sustainability as a driving force of entrepreneurship – not just as a desirable, but not essential, byproduct of entrepreneurs and their ecosystems. There are expectations that EEs can function as engines of economic development and technological innovation, but it is past time societies also pursue more responsible goals related to what kind of sustainable development we want for us and future generations.
Date Issued
2026-06-07
Date Acceptance
2026-06-01
Citation
Industry and Innovation, 2026, 33 (6), pp.635-644
ISSN
1366-2716
Publisher
Taylor and Francis Group
Start Page
635
End Page
644
Journal / Book Title
Industry and Innovation
Volume
33
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2026 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is the author’s accepted manuscript made available under a CC-BY licence in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy)
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Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2026-06-07