New knowledge does not automatically become a new venture or innovation. This review brings together a fragmented literature on the conditions that allow knowledge to move from universities, established firms and other ecosystem actors to entrepreneurs. Its core message is that spillovers depend on connected enabling conditions across people, firms, relationships and institutions—not simply on locating entrepreneurs close to knowledge producers.
What the article shows
Research identifies many enabling factors, but uses inconsistent concepts and rarely explains how those factors connect.
Knowledge spillovers are produced through interactions among entrepreneurial capabilities, organisational practices, networks, intermediaries and wider institutions.
The field needs stronger multi-level and longitudinal evidence to explain when ecosystem conditions translate into entrepreneurial outcomes.
Implications for entrepreneurs
Treat external knowledge as something that must be searched for, interpreted and recombined; physical proximity alone is not enough.
Invest in absorptive capacity, trusted relationships and intermediaries that help translate specialised knowledge into commercial possibilities.
Use both face-to-face channels for tacit learning and digital channels for broader, more continuous access to explicit knowledge.
Implications for policymakers
Support connectors, brokers, accelerators and capability-building—not only buildings, science parks or research expenditure.
Evaluate whether knowledge is actually reaching and being used by diverse entrepreneurs, rather than counting only events, patents or co-location.
Build policy portfolios that connect skills, networks, finance and institutions, and test how these combinations work over time.
This plain-language summary was prepared with AI assistance from the published abstract and available article information. The published article is the authoritative source; practical and policy implications are interpretive.