Building deep-tech entrepreneurial ecosystems: factors that promote the presence of deep-tech startups in European regions
Abstract
Abstract Deep-tech startups aim to implement and commercialize novel technologies that have the potential to address societal challenges. Due to current geopolitical trends and the potential of such technologies to rejuvenate the industrial power of regions, European governments are attempting to foster the creation of this type of startups within their borders. However, they struggle to do so effectively due to a limited understanding of the factors that support the emergence of deep-tech startups. We combine the generic entrepreneurial ecosystem framework with specific deep-tech enabling elements to develop and test hypotheses about which factors influence the presence of deep-tech startups on a regional scale. We develop a thesaurus to identify deep-tech startups at the regional level and test our hypotheses using quantitative analyses in 272 European NUTS-2 regions located in 27 EU countries and the UK. We show that the presence of specific deep-tech enabling knowledge and talent is more important for facilitating the emergence of deep-tech startups than the quality of the generic entrepreneurial ecosystem and the presence of specific deep-tech enabling formal institutions. The results of our study thus provide timely guidance to support public administrations in facilitating the emergence of deep-tech startups in regions.