Role of Accelerators in Development of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem as a Part of the Regional Economic Development Strategy
Abstract
The Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia and Dąbrowa Basin, usually referred to in Poland as the Silesian Metropolis, is one of the key urban centres in the country, integrating 14 largest cities in the Silesia and Zagłębie Regions and 2 million inhabitants. It also offers the best investment areas in Poland, an absorptive labour market, unique tourist attraction and many cultural highlights. The Silesian Metropolis began its activity on January 1, 2018. In stimulating and developing the economies of cities and regions, not only the role of an individual entrepreneur, his idea and effort on the way to building new ventures is emphasized, but also the role of the entire business environment, support network which are defined in the literature as an ecosystem. The creation of the Metropolis is pioneer, long-term and complex process, requiring vision and consistent work, therefore there are taken various strategic initiatives including development of accelerators within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Analysing the ecosystem from the point of view of urban development is important, because trends show that there is a strong urbanization and concentration of start-up entrepreneurship around large cities. The aim of this study is to understand the role of accelerators in building and developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem as a part of regional economic development strategy. Interviews with 61 ecosystem actors, along with a variety of published sources, informed our qualitative research method. We document what accelerator expertise looks like and how it can affect commitment to the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. We note, that accelerators in the Silesian Metropolis are, in many ways, start-ups themselves, facing the same challenges other start-up face. Our findings suggest that as these accelerators continue to build their own expertise and continue to engage in ecosystem developing process, they will benefit more fully from other expertise that emerge as the ecosystem itself, continues to develop. We describe the process that enable accelerators to enhance expertise, commitment to the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is a part of the regional development economic strategy in the Silesian Metropolis.
- Publication:
-
Materials Science and Engineering Conference Series
- Pub Date:
- February 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1757-899X/471/10/102013
- Bibcode:
- 2019MS&E..471j2013G