Institutional Architecture and Formal Coordination in an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: The Case of Gliwice, Poland

Entrepreneurial ecosystems can support innovation-driven and sustainable regional development, yet less is known about how local institutions coordinate support across successive stages of firm development. This study examines the entrepreneurial ecosystem associated with Gliwice, Poland, focusing on its institutional architecture, formally available support instruments, institutional roles, and potential coordination issues. A qualitative single-case study was conducted using structured document analysis of 59 sources, institutional mapping, classification of support instruments across three firm-development stages, and an exploratory adaptation of the RACI framework. The analysis distinguishes a locally embedded ecosystem core from an external regional and national support environment. The documentary evidence indicates broad formal support across R&D and innovation, commercialization, expansion, scaling, and internationalization. However, several financing, investment, and internationalization functions are provided primarily by regional and national institutions, while formal mechanisms connecting organizations and support instruments across successive stages are less clearly documented. The study contributes by distinguishing the availability of institutional support from documented formal coherence, understood as documentary evidence of support continuity, complementarity, clarity of institutional roles, and formal coordination mechanisms.