The role of entrepreneurial ecosystems in technological and social challenges

Although there is a common consensus about what an entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) is, the question of how EE dynamics interact with technology and social change remains unclear. In this introductory article to our Special Issue on the role of EE in technological and social challenges, we systematically review the corpus of literature in this field of research. Leveraging bibliometric techniques, we present a review of the most influential papers and their key research topics, synthesized across four thematic groups: (i) university-based EE, (ii) entrepreneurial innovation ecosystems, (iii) dynamic EE models, and (iv) digital entrepreneurship ecosystems. Within this thematic frame, a synopsis of the papers presented within the special issue is provided, highlighting their research theme addressed, theoretical grounding, and methods leveraged. We conclude this article by identifying potential future research questions that may be advantageous trajectories for the EE research community to address when advancing the field in the coming years.