17874: Borrowing Knowledge Digitally - How Smaller Town Regional EEs Can Leverage Exogenous Knowledge Links (session 26177)

Smaller town regions are often challenged by resource constraints which may hinder growth and internationalisation of firms based in such areas. This study explores how digital tools, such as digital platforms, help firms located in smaller towns access knowledge exogenously, overcoming local resource limitations. We look beyond the commonly studied local knowledge sharing within regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and examine how firms can ‘borrow’ knowledge from outside their own ecosystem with the help of digital tools. Our findings show first, how digital tools can enable smaller firms to establish connections across regional and international borders. Second, we further analyse the particular role that service intermediaries and experts play in digitally facilitating the transfer of external knowledge into local ecosystems. We also expand on the idea of regional absorptive capacity by demonstrating how formal structures, such as digital expert teams and facilitation, help ecosystem actors absorb and use new knowledge for competitive advantages. This ability to borrow knowledge from other regions supports faster international growth and boosts regional development. These findings suggest that investing in digital tools and knowledge-sharing mechanisms can provide policymakers with effective strategies to support the growth of regional entrepreneurial ecosystems.

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