Connectedness of entrepreneurial ecosystems: evidence from the mobility of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurs

Abstract Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) are regarded as ideal breeding ground for knowledge-intensive entrepreneurs (KIEs). Yet, as EEs are mostly considered isolated from each other and their connectedness is neglected, there is a lack of research on their capacity to attract KIEs rather than to locally nurturing them. Inadequate data has been a major obstacle to this line of work as well. Aiming to address this gap, the present study investigates KIEs’ mobility providing empirical evidence at support of EEs’ connectedness. The career history of 3,897 biotech KIEs across 32 European countries over a 15-year time was analysed. A stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM) was employed to identify the key determinants attracting flows of biotech KIEs from one EE to another. Crucially, this analysis included both location-specific variables for every EE, as well as the dynamics of the inter-EE mobility network itself. Though the results are specific to KIEs in the biotech sector and more research is necessary to further confirm them, they provide evidence that KIEs’ mobility emerges from multiscalar phenomena extending beyond ecosystem boundaries. Both the academic community and policymakers should take such dynamics seriously to understand and shape EEs connectedness to the larger world. Moreover, as KIEs’ mobility cannot be fully understood without accounting for inter-EE connectedness, the multiscalar understanding of EEs can significantly benefit from the use of KIEs’ mobility data.