Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship in the Digital Economy: A Conceptual Synthesis, Theoretical Framework, and Research Agenda

The digital economy has fundamentally transformed the landscape of entrepreneurial activity, creating unprecedented opportunities while simultaneously challenging conventional theoretical frameworks. This study employs a systematic conceptual review methodology to examine the evolution of innovation-driven entrepreneurship within digital ecosystems. Drawing upon Schumpeterian theory of creative destruction and contemporary digital entrepreneurship frameworks, the review synthesizes scholarly discourse from peer-reviewed journals, books, and institutional reports published predominantly between 2014 and 2025. The analysis follows an integrative thematic synthesis approach, systematically categorizing emerging trends across four critical dimensions: technological affordances, ecosystem dynamics, business model innovation, and institutional governance. Key themes examined include artificial intelligence-enabled ventures, platform-based business models, sustainable digital entrepreneurship, and the reconfiguration of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The review reveals that digital technologies have not merely digitized existing entrepreneurial processes but have engendered novel forms of value creation, opportunity recognition, and venture scaling that necessitate reconceptualization of traditional entrepreneurship theory. The article concludes with a research agenda highlighting the need for interdisciplinary inquiry into the socio-technical mechanisms that underpin successful innovation-driven entrepreneurship in an increasingly digitized global economy.