What is meant by entrepreneurial ecosystems?
Every entrepreneur and their venture(s) are part of a larger (eco)system of regulatory agencies, consumers, financial institutions, equity investors, other entrepreneurs, meeting spaces, suppliers, and support services (Spigel, 2017; Stam, 2015).
What is meant by an (eco)system?
A system is defined as:
an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something. If you look closely for a minute, you can see a system must consist of three kinds of things: elements, interconnections, and a function or a purpose. (Meadows, 2008, p.11)
An (eco)system is defined as
a natural system consisting of all plants, animals, and microorganism (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. (Christopherson, 1997)
In the business world, an ecosystem was first introduced by Moore, (1993) in the context of competitive dynamics, suggesting that firm strategy should move away from a narrow-minded industry perspective to a more holistic ecosystem view.
Entrepreneurial is defined as:
a process in which opportunities for creating new goods and services are explored, evaluated and exploited. (Schumpeter, 1934; Shane & Venkatamaran, 2000)
Entrepreneurship is often described as:
an agent of social change, which involves the transformation and reinvention of the boundaries structuring our world (Steyaert and Hjorth, 2008, p.1).
Entrepreneurship ecosystems have been most commonly defined as regions where a favorable culture and start-up friendly policies and leadership come together with human capital, abundant finance, and various institutional and infrastructural support to grow new ventures (Brush, Corbett, & Strimaitis, 2015; Isenberg, 2010; Spigel 2017; Stam, 2015).
The distinguishing features of any entrepreneurial ecosystem are the symbiotic relationships between the different stakeholders, and that they are not just about commerce but are seen as solutions to both economic and social concerns (Xavier, Kelley, Kew, Herrington, & Vorderwu¨lbecke, 2013).
Entrepreneurship has been positioned in extant literature as ‘a subversive activity’ (Bureau, 2013) with the capacity to upset the status quo, to disrupt ‘accepted ways of doing things’ and to alter ‘traditional patterns of behaviour’ (Smilor, 1997).
Entrepreneurial activity as an output of the entrepreneurial ecosystem,
Is the process by which individuals create opportunities for innovation. This innovation will eventually lead to new value in society and this is therefore the ultimate outcome of an entrepreneurial ecosystem while entrepreneurial activity is a more intermediary output of the system.
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Consumer Experience-Beyond the Metrics 