This book examines entrepreneurship from three interrelated perspectives. Firstly, it links entrepreneurship to innovation and to the generation, transformation and use of knowledge. Secondly, it inserts entrepreneurship in innovation systems of various types- national, sectoral and local. Thirdly, it views entrepreneurship not as a single event but as a process that evolves in time, from the pre-entry experience, to the entrepreneurial act, to the evolution of the entrepreneur and the new company. With chapters from a range of international contributors, the book answers questions such as; what are the main dimensions of knowledge intensive entrepreneurship? What are the factors affecting its emergence, evolution and performance? How important is knowledge intensive entrepreneurship for European growth and competitiveness? Is the situation of Central and Eastern Europe, engaged in a process of major economic and institutional transformation, similar or different from the one of Western Europe?

Knowledge intensive entrepreneurship lies at the core of the structural shift necessary for the growth and development of a knowledge based economy, yet research reveals that the EU has fewer young leading innovators, and Europe’s new firms do not adequately contribute to industrial growth. This is especially true in the high R&D intensive, high-tech sectors. This structural malaise, undermining Europe’s growth potential, is well diagnosed, but poorly understood. This volume fills this important gap by exploring new firms that have significant knowledge intensity in their activity and develop and exploit innovative opportunities in diverse sectors. Through an evolutionary and systemic approach to entrepreneurship, focusing on knowledge intensive entrepreneurship as both a micro and a macro phenomena and analyzing firms in the context of various socio-economic models, the authors explore firms creation and origins around the world, their organization, strategies and business models as well as the role of innovation systems and institutions in their formation and growth. This comprehensive research text is vital reading for academics, researchers and students of high-tech and knowledge intensive entrepreneurship as well as those with an interest in industrial dynamics, innovation management and public policy.

Innovation networks are a major source for acquiring new information and knowledge and thus for supporting innovation processes. Despite the many theoretical and empirical contributions to the explanation of networks, many questions still remain open. For example: How can networks, if they do not emerge by their own, be initiated? How can fragmentation in innovation systems be overcome? And how can networking experience from market economies be transferred to the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe? By presenting a selection of papers which address innovation networking from theoretical and political viewpoints, the book aims at giving answers to these questions.

This book presents the first multidimensional investigation of KIE in the context of low-tech industries and gives insights in paradox conditions and specific mechanisms, using the example of the German textile industry. Therefore, the author solves conceptual inconsistencies and develops an alternative framework referring to systemic concepts of sectoral innovation systems and KIE as well as to the concept of institutional entrepreneurs. As a result, the deviation of willful actors from a restricting institutional environment and sources of entrepreneurial opportunities can be investigated more comprehensively.

This monograph puts forward the argument that KIE enables a modern view of entrepreneurship that links the intense use of knowledge by new ventures with an intense innovative activity related to the economy and markets.

This book presents multidisciplinary research that expands our understanding of the innovation system (IS) and the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) perspectives on regional economic development. It critically reviews the two concepts and explores the promise and the limits of bridging IS and EE, particularly as applied outside of the bubbling global hubs or to the types of entrepreneurship different from the high-growth variety.

Describes how institutions and markets can best be structured in order to promote innovation in key economic sectors.