A qualitative view of the activation steps for EES emergence enabled by polycentric alliances
| Context | Activation – Step 1 | Activation – Step 2 | Activation – Step 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecosystem leadership | |||
| Characteristics | |||
| Accelerating ecosystem growth | There is no leadership. There are individual, non-correlated actions without unity and strategy | A strategy for developing entrepreneurship is forming at the local level but the implementation still lack energy | Some centers of leadership emerge. These are joint into a polycentric alliance |
| Objective | |||
| Find entrepreneurially minded persons and grow a more connected local community | Activating entrepreneurially minded persons by showing them opportunities and resources | Connect different initiatives and start to coordinate the actions and share resources | Eliminate political and administrative barriers of enabling a functioning polycentric alliance. Join cooperation complementary to the formation of the EES |
| Community | |||
| Characteristics | |||
| The quality of local communities is measured by startup experience, connectedness, as well as by startup output and output growth | The community has no or no clear vision of the future | There are some initiatives to increase the local connectedness | Many stakeholders contribute to the sustained development of the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem |
| Objective | |||
| Focus on growing and building a large and more connected community | Develop a sense of cohesion and to start meetings to inform and align interests | Activate local entrepreneurs, talent, and investors | Join them into a polycentric EES community; establish efficient cross-border coordination |
| Domains | |||
| Characteristics | |||
| Technological choices; many technology paths and commercial opportunities | Tendency toward opportunistic entrepreneurship/domains with more rudimentary technology | Venturing into more advanced technology domains, contacting global players for subcontractor roles | Reputation for the products of firms from the polycentric EES is gradually building |
| Objective | |||
| Build on and develop local economic strengths | Identify some specific domains where the local ecosystem would have some competitive advantages | Develop focused programs to accelerate ecosystem growth | Develop pockets of success that lead to sizable successful exits |
| Global relationship | |||
| Characteristics | |||
| The global system becomes increasingly important in the late activation phase | Understanding that national borders may be Sub-optimal as delimiters of close local cooperation | Relationships within the regional area (national region, accounting for about 4–6 counties) | Global relationships emerge, as a polycentric EES gains momentum |
| Objective | |||
| Empower the community to tap into global sources of knowledge and other types of capital | Establish relationships within the local area (city and county level) | Establish relationships within the national area and/or cross border regions (national region, accounting for about 4–6 counties) | Increasingly connect with and learn from the global startup community |
| Funding | Characteristics | ||
| Most and especially the best startups raise funding outside the ecosystem | There is virtually no funding for startups besides bank loans and self financing | Funds that search for eligible startups appear. Investors-founder matching is done through personal network of contacts | The city-wise investor community is relatively inexperienced and often lack slonger-term strategy; this may be improved in a poly-centric virtual city environment |
| Objective | |||
| Support the formation and operations of angel groups to increase deal flow and expertise | Inject capital to reduce the risks of the activity domain | Inject capital in VC firms to support the development of one or two dominant startup sub-sectors in the ecosystem | Emerge as a regional leader in a targeted area and lead to polycentric ecosystem growth |
| Startup Support | Characteristics | ||
| Startup experience in an EES community | No startup experience in an entrepreneurial ecosystem | Some isolated groups that have some entrepreneurial experience start to appear | Long term orientation, advisors, mentors, owing to much bigger polycentric talent reservoir. Community behaviors for commercial success |
| Objective | |||
| Founders support enabling investment absorption | Help startups to transform ideas into products providing knowledge and resources | Support startups to attract larger investments; market scaling | Long term founders support |
| Context | Activation – Step 1 | Activation – Step 2 | Activation – Step 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | |||
| Accelerating ecosystem growth | There is no leadership. | A strategy for developing entrepreneurship is forming at the local level but the implementation still lack energy | Some centers of leadership emerge. These are joint into a polycentric alliance |
| Objective | |||
| Find entrepreneurially minded persons and grow a more connected local community | Activating entrepreneurially minded persons by showing them opportunities and resources | Connect different initiatives and start to coordinate the actions and share resources | Eliminate political and administrative barriers of enabling a functioning polycentric alliance. Join cooperation complementary to the formation of the EES |
| Characteristics | |||
| The quality of local communities is measured by startup experience, connectedness, as well as by startup output and output growth | The community has no or no clear vision of the future | There are some initiatives to increase the local connectedness | Many stakeholders contribute to the sustained development of the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem |
| Objective | |||
| Focus on growing and building a large and more connected community | Develop a sense of cohesion and to start meetings to inform and align interests | Activate local entrepreneurs, talent, and investors | Join them into a polycentric EES community; establish efficient cross-border coordination |
| Characteristics | |||
| Technological choices; many technology paths and commercial opportunities | Tendency toward opportunistic entrepreneurship/domains with more rudimentary technology | Venturing into more advanced technology domains, contacting global players for subcontractor roles | Reputation for the products of firms from the polycentric EES is gradually building |
| Objective | |||
| Build on and develop local economic strengths | Identify some specific domains where the local ecosystem would have some competitive advantages | Develop focused programs to accelerate ecosystem growth | Develop pockets of success that lead to sizable successful exits |
| Characteristics | |||
| The global system becomes increasingly important in the late activation phase | Understanding that national borders may be Sub-optimal as delimiters of close local cooperation | Relationships within the regional area (national region, accounting for about 4–6 counties) | Global relationships emerge, as a polycentric EES gains momentum |
| Objective | |||
| Empower the community to tap into global sources of knowledge and other types of capital | Establish relationships within the local area (city and county level) | Establish relationships within the national area and/or cross border regions (national region, accounting for about 4–6 counties) | Increasingly connect with and learn from the global startup community |
| Characteristics | |||
| Most and especially the best startups raise funding outside the ecosystem | There is virtually no funding for startups besides bank loans and self financing | Funds that search for eligible startups appear. Investors-founder matching is done through personal network of contacts | The city-wise investor community is relatively inexperienced and often lack slonger-term strategy; this may be improved in a poly-centric virtual city environment |
| Objective | |||
| Support the formation and operations of angel groups to increase deal flow and expertise | Inject capital to reduce the risks of the activity domain | Inject capital in VC firms to support the development of one or two dominant startup sub-sectors in the ecosystem | Emerge as a regional leader in a targeted area and lead to polycentric ecosystem growth |
| Characteristics | |||
| Startup experience in an EES community | No startup experience in an entrepreneurial ecosystem | Some isolated groups that have some entrepreneurial experience start to appear | Long term orientation, advisors, mentors, owing to much bigger polycentric talent reservoir. Community behaviors for commercial success |
| Objective | |||
| Founders support enabling investment absorption | Help startups to transform ideas into products providing knowledge and resources | Support startups to attract larger investments; market scaling | Long term founders support |
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