Innovation and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems as Important Building Blocks

Transformational entrepreneurship enables social-economic development. It goes beyond just focusing on economic returns and stresses the importance of people and the multi-level connectivity in the entire entrepreneurial process. In order to achieve the transformational purpose, entrepreneurship and second-order innovation, which is often disruptive in nature, are key in the process, as such activities can subsequently maximise the chances of successful transformational ventures. To nurture such innovation and entrepreneurial activities, a supportive environment is crucial. Extant literature suggests that such an environment is linked to two existing concepts: innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Thus, this chapter investigates the two ecosystem concepts and highlights the differences between the two. As well as they are different, the two ecosystems are not mutually exclusive. Acknowledging the importance of such ecosystems, key principles are followed in building sound ecosystems that can best support transformational entrepreneurship.