Unbounded Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are often described as local systems rooted in a city or region. My work asks what happens when entrepreneurs build the support they need across several places—combining local relationships with international communities, digital platforms, universities, investors and support organisations.

This research has developed from an early interest in how small firms assemble capabilities and respond to competition towards a broader question: how do knowledge, power, institutions and networks shape entrepreneurial action? A central part of this work is business strategy and policy design for overcoming place-based constraints—helping firms and regions access knowledge, capabilities and connections that are not available locally. I am particularly interested in the conditions under which useful knowledge crosses organisational or geographic boundaries and becomes an opportunity for innovation.

The current direction is increasingly unbounded. Digitalisation, AI and internationally connected communities make it possible for entrepreneurs to configure parts of their own ecosystem rather than simply operate inside a fixed local one. That changes how we think about place, support, inclusion and the policy architecture around entrepreneurship.