The Emergence of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A review of the Literature

Despite the growing attention afforded to EntrepreneurialEcosystems by scholars and academics alike, our conceptualisation of thephenomenon remains incomplete. In this paper we address this knowledge gapby focusing on Entrepreneurial Ecosystem emergence. Through a systematicreview of the literature that includes detailed analysis of 165 papers, weidentify the actors involved in the emergence process, together with facilitatingfactors, and the mechanisms driving emergence. Our findings show that besidesentrepreneurs, established local and foreign firms, financiers, the regionalgovernment, accelerators, and research organisations play a pivotal role in theemergence of the ecosystem. Furthermore, supporting activities, local history,and available human and knowledge resources are some of the factorsfacilitating emergence. And finally, entrepreneurial break-off, resourceinjection, and commun