Space–time analysis of entrepreneurial ecosystems

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) are viewed as the combination or interaction of elements producing shared innovative and cultural values that support entrepreneurial activities within a territory. The literature has mainly taken a static view of the concept and has analyzed these ecosystems at national or at NUTS-2 regional level. This paper proposes the NUTS-3 provincial level as a spatial unit for measuring EEs in a dynamic perspective and focuses on the Italian case using data for the 2000–2018 period. The choice of NUTS-3 provinces is supported by theoretical arguments and it is confirmed by empirical results, which show some degree of heterogeneity in the level of EEs across provinces and some spatial patterns that would have been ignored using larger spatial units. The temporal dimension also reveals some intra-distribution mobility in the cross-sectional values of the provincial EE index. The paper contributes to advancing the research on EEs, has implications for policymakers and practitioners, and suggests directions for future studies.