Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Societal Impact: Opportunities at the Intersection of Place, Sustainable Development, and Technology Management

Entrepreneurial ecosystems encompass the actors and factors within geographic areas that collectively foster entrepreneurship. Research on these ecosystems emphasizes the importance of “place” in both innovation and technology management. In particular, the elements and attributes of local communities significantly influence the development of new technologies, business models, and products. Increasingly, organizations are harnessing technological innovations to attain both financial sustainability and societal impact. Entrepreneurs who establish and manage these organizations, commonly referred to as “social entrepreneurs,” strive to create thriving businesses while addressing critical societal issues such as poverty, homelessness, human trafficking, environmental degradation, and animal cruelty. Although successfully pursuing sustainable development opportunities is challenging, social entrepreneurs can utilize local resources and their entrepreneurial ecosystems to bolster their initiatives. Despite substantial progress in understanding the interplay between entrepreneurs’ agency and the dynamics of their local environments, there remain important opportunities to explore how entrepreneurs interact with their ecosystems while creating technological innovations, managing their ventures, and striving for societal impact.