There is a broad and long-standing debate on possible solutions to the regional vulnerabilities of globalisation. In 2014, the European Commission began implementing Smart Specialisation Strategy, a place-based strategy of growth, regional transformation and new industrial policy with collective entrepreneurial discovery processes (EDP) at its core. This volume approaches the mystery of entrepreneurial discovery; that is, how relevant knowledge is created, converted and shared in a process of discovery. These essays bring together scholars from economics, geography, sociology, organisation studies, innovation studies, and complexity theory, offering new approaches to overcome the limitations of place-based development and suggesting improved methods leading to growth.

Universities are becoming more entrepreneurial, and for local communities and companies, this has increased their economic standings tenfold. However, the competitiveness of developing economies thanks to these financially focused institutions has likewise increased. Examining the Role of Entrepreneurial Universities in Regional Development provides emerging research exploring how universities foster and support entrepreneurship and the development of a more entrepreneurial organization and highlights the importance of this process for local communities and companies. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as institutional entrepreneurship, public management, and economic contribution, this book is ideally designed for university presidents, provosts, rectors, chancellors, board members, managers, business professionals, policymakers, academicians, students, and researchers.

This brief presents a detailed look at the entrepreneurial ecosystem of nations around the world by combining individual data with institutional components. Presenting data from the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI), which measures the quality and scale of entrepreneurial process from 137 countries world-wide, this book provides a rich understanding of entrepreneurship and a more precise means to measure it. The novelty of the GEDI 2018 edition is the examination of the connection between the GEDI score and the computed total factor productivity (TFP) values. The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index is an annual index (composite indicator) that measures the health of the entrepreneurship ecosystems in a given country. The authors have identified 14 components (or pillars) that are important for the health of entrepreneurial ecosystems, identified data to capture each , and used this data to calculate three levels of scores for a given country: the overall GEDI score, scores for Individuals and Institutions, and pillar level scores (which measure the quality of each of the 14 components).

The contributors to this book explore the role and importance of qualitative, interpretist research in the dynamic field of enterprise. They establish the link between the innovative nature of small enterprise and the need to utilise research methodologies, which are themselves innovative. The book highlights the fact that enterprise research has the advantage of sufficient youth as a research discipline to permit a wide scope for new and innovative research studies. Probing this unexplored terrain therefore requires exploratory research methods supported by inductive research techniques. These methods and techniques are examined in detail: topics covered are diverse, ranging from a review of quantitative research methodologies and the integration of methodological philosophies and approaches; to the application of two novel analytical techniques. Convergent interviewing, action research, case research and marketing research for isolated SMEs are all also explored in depth. This book will provide academics, researchers and students with a cohesive body of material on the use of interpretist research techniques in all areas of enterprise research.

Entrepreneurship is an academic discipline that, despite decades of growth in research and teaching activity lacks a traditionally distinct or common theoretical domain. In this book, editors Thomas N. Duening and Matthew Metzger explore entrepreneurial identity, facets of entrepreneurship education in forming and developing this identity and the development of entrepreneurs in general. Chapters focus primarily on macro-level identity issues (i.e., how do these entrepreneurial archetypes form, persist, and sometimes change) or micro-level identity issues (i.e., how can educators and resource providers identify, communicate, and incentivize identity construction among aspiring entrepreneurs), topics that will be of interest to researchers and students alike.

One of the most pivotal tasks of a regional government is to find different and innovative ways to develop their economies. Formulating universities, in that respect, potentially holds the key to competitive global economic success. Smart Specialization Strategies and the Role of Entrepreneurial Universities is a crucial reference source that examines a new competitive paradigm where universities can act as a partner institution, policy actor, and producer of knowledge that can affect the potential for economic growth and development of regions. While highlighting topics such as economic development, entrepreneurship ecosystem evolution, and regional competitiveness, this publication explores the varying dynamics that are evolving toward the successful mobilization of university resources on regional economies. This book is ideally designed for policymakers, administrators, researchers, developers, academicians, marketers, and business professionals.

While urban settlements are the drivers of the global economy and centres of learning, culture, and innovation and nations rely on competitive dynamic regions for their economic, social, and environmental objectives, urban centres and regions face a myriad of challenges that impact the ways in which people live and work, create wealth, and interact and connect with places. Rapid urbanisation is resulting in urban sprawl, rising emissions, urban poverty and high unemployment rates, housing affordability issues, lack of urban investment, low urban financial and governance capacities, rising inequality and urban crimes, environmental degradation, increasing vulnerability to natural disasters and so forth. At the regional level, low employment, low wage growth, scarce financial resources, climate change, waste and pollution, and rising urban peri-urban competition etc. are impacting the ability of regions to meet socio-economic development goals while protecting biodiversity. The response to these challenges has typically been the application of inadequate or piecemeal solutions, often as a result of fragmented decision-making and competing priorities, with numerous economic, environmental, and social consequences. In response, there is a growing movement towards viewing cities and regions as complex and sociotechnical in nature with people and communities interacting with one another and with objects, such as roads, buildings, transport links etc., within a range of urban and regional settings or contexts. This comprehensive MRW will provide readers with expert interdisciplinary knowledge on how urban centres and regions in locations of varying climates, lifestyles, income levels, and stages development are creating synergies and reducing trade-offs in the development of resilient, resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, liveable, socially equitable, integrated, and technology-enabled centres and regions.