17261: Startup and Scaleup Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Measurement, Output, Performance: Evidence from Italy (session 26151)

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) literature has advanced substantially during the last few decades, yet consensus on its elements, measurement, outputs and geographic coverage is not agreed upon. Building on the extant literature on EE, we discuss these issues and provide a framework which paves the way for further discussion and research. Our conceptualisation is based on an input-output-performance approach which clearly identifies the elements, different outputs and performance of a regional EE. We study the regions of Italy, a high-income country, by distinguishing between the developed and less-developed regions and studying two different points in time, i.e. 2010 and 2019 to monitor shifts in the regional EEs and their outputs. We observe that the EE elements in developed regions are more associated with delivering outputs towards scale-up entrepreneurial ecosystems (i.e. high growth firms and then economic growth), whilst in the less-developed regions the EE elements show more association with start-up entrepreneurial ecosystems (i.e. new firm generation). We discuss possible reasons and provide policy implications for entrepreneurship policy making in regions with different income levels.

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