Chapter 4: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Weak Metaphor or Genuine Concept?^☆

Entrepreneurship ecosystems have become ubiquitous in the discussions around economic growth and new venture creation. Despite growing scholarly interest, however, the theoretical and conceptual foundations are still rudimentary, causing much debate among researchers and practitioners. At the center of these debates are questions like What are the boundaries of ecosystems? Are ecosystems build from the top-down or from the bottom-up? Or How can we measure the success of ecosystems? In this chapter, we summarize these discussions, present an overview of the existing research, and give an outlook on future directions.