The Institutional and Cultural Governance of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

This project will seek to advance the study of entrepreneurial ecosystems through an intensive case study of technology entrepreneurship in Edinburgh, Scotland. This study will both help deepen our understanding of how entrepreneurs draw resources from their regional ecosystem as well as develop new methodologies to study them. Edinburgh is a useful case study because it has many of the markers of an effective entrepreneurial ecosystem such as high levels of technology entrepreneurship, a large research university, available investment capital, and multiple entrepreneurship support programs present in the region. The project will address four main research questions 1) What are the major characteristics and resources of Edinburgh’s ecosystem and how did these develop; 2) How do technology entrepreneurs access the resources and support within the ecosystem and how does this affect firm growth and innovation strategies; 3) How do the attributes of an entrepreneur or venture affect how they draw on resources within the ecosystem and 4) Is the overall ecosystem driven by local forces or is it more affected by policies and actions at the national or global scale?