This book addresses the intersections of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability in food systems, and presents high-quality research illustrating the central role that food consumption and production play in achieving sustainability goals. Entrepreneurship and innovation have become particularly relevant aspects in the European Union (EU), especially since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were announced in 2015. In many cases, innovations tend to arise from small and medium-sized enterprises, and from completely new entrepreneurial endeavors. This book represents essential reading for researchers and young academics seeking to reduce disparities and inequalities in food production and consumptions patterns. By encouraging sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation, it will also help young scholars find support for their startup ideas.

This is a guide to understanding entrepreneurial ecosystems: what they are, why they matter, and to whom they matter. Ben Spigel explores this popular new theory of economic development, locating the intellectual roots of ecosystems, explaining the practices and processes that allow ecosystems to support the creation and growth of innovative entrepreneurial firms.

Analyzes entrepreneurial ecosystems though the lens of gender to identify myriad individual, organizational, and institutional factors that create gendered inequities.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are increasingly viewed as key contributors to global economic and social development. University-based entrepreneurship ecosystems (U-BEEs) provide a supportive context in which entrepreneurship and innovation can thrive. In that vein, this book provides critical insight based on cutting-edge analyses of how to frame, design, launch, and sustain efforts in the area of entrepreneurship. Seven success factors were derived from an in-depth analysis of six leading, and very different, university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. These seven success factors are: (1) senior leadership vision, engagement and sponsorship; (2) strong programmatic and faculty leadership; (3) sustained commitment over a long period of time; (4) commitment of substantial financial resources; (5) commitment to continuing innovation in curriculum and programs; (6) an appropriate organizational infrastructure; and (7) commitment to building the extended enterprise and achieving critical mass. Based on these success factors, the authors provide a series of recommendations for the development of a comprehensive university-based entrepreneurship ecosystem. This major assessment of how best to drive university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems is essential reading for anyone involved in higher education (particularly provosts, deans, and professors), government agencies concerned with socio-economic development, and all those concerned with helping entrepreneurship ecosystems to flourish.

Christian Schwarzkopf has developed a new more holistic entrepreneurial ecosystem on a national level and has analyzed as well as compared the fundamentals of innovation and entrepreneurship in Germany and the USA in order to derive the key elements for an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The described ecosystem consists of four circles and 24 elements, with the entrepreneur in the core. Surrounding essential elements, for example, are risk financing, culture or domestic markets. The author shows the differences between Germany and the USA and provides improvement proposals for nations like Germany.

Fransman explains how innovation happens and which factors can help or hinder, by treating innovation as a systemic phenomenon, or ecosystem of players and processes. It will appeal to economists, other social scientists, business people, policy makers, and anyone interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and the Diffusion of Startups addresses, for the first time, the emerging notion of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Chapters from leading scholars in the fields of entrepreneurship and strategy explore new ideas and provoke debate in both academia and practice. Covering the emergence, dynamics and management of entrepreneurial ecosystems and offering conceptual tools, experimental evidence and practical examples, this book will be invaluable to those seeking a greater understanding of entrepreneurship and startup strategies, both practitioners and students.