Abstract
This paper investigates some theoretical predictions from Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (EE) theory, i.e. predictions regarding the stated EE outputs: regional HGF shares. We analyse regional HGF shares in NUTS-3 and NUTS-2 regions in Europe, drawing on Eurostat data for up to 20 countries, over the period 2008-2020. Analysis of regional rankings yields the puzzling finding that the leading entrepreneurial ecosystems in Europe, apparently, are in places such as the Canary Islands, South Italy, and the Centro region of Portugal. These places would not normally be considered Europe’s foremost entrepreneurial hotspots. Correlations, scatterplots, and regressions are used to test our hypotheses. We find support for the hypothesis that regions display persistence in their regional HGF shares over time, although this is driven (to some extent) by outliers. However, we do not find strong support for the hypothesis that more developed regions, or more innovative regions, have stronger Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, because these regions do not have higher regional HGF shares. There is also insufficient support for the hypothesis that more developed regions (or more innovative regions) have higher persistence in their regional HGF shares. Overall, policymakers are advised to be cautious regarding whether the EE framework can actually generate its stated outputs in terms of boosting a region’s HGF share.