The impact of entrepreneurial activity on regional economic growth continues to be a focus of research and policy-makers throughout our global environment (Carree and Thurik 2000; Agarwal, Audretsch, and Sarkar 2007). Entrepreneurial activity requires innovation when entrepreneurs move from initial disequilibrium towards equilibrium (Schumpeter 1954; Kirzner 1973). Emerging entrepreneurial ventures and the innovators behind these start-ups bring necessary change and positive growth when conditions are aligned for their success (Davidsson, Delmar, and Wiklund 2006). Public administration and government policies should support both entrepreneurship and innovation as such support is necessary for organizations as they design programmes and develop policies for growth and sustainability (Galbraith et al. 2017). New ventures need talent, good ideas and a knowledge-based economy around them to positively impact regional development (Bouncken, Kraus, and Roig-Tierno 2019). Organizations tend to access knowledge from research sources, implicitly assuming that entrepreneurship and innovation involve developing social networks and collective actions (Huggins and Johnston 2009). The discussion concerning the space and scale of knowledge networks for innovation is important to clarify. Additionally, emerging entrepreneurial firms are highly active with regard to accessing knowledge from a range of sources and geographic locations; however, these networking activities may decrease during future periods of peak firm growth (Huggins et al. 2015).

Knowledge produces opportunities for technological change which can result in organizational growth or even startup activity (Shane 2001). This knowledge derives from a variety of resources such as larger organizations, research institutions, R&D activities, and more (Acs, Audretsch, and Lehmann 2013). Local regions that work to develop these networks and clusters of innovators and creators can realize growth opportunities for new ventures as well as small and medium-sized organizations which in turn can grow the regional economy. These regions, focused on incubating knowledge-based growth and development, create an ideal environment for further innovations and knowledge creation. This focus on knowledge creation within an environment may result in the development of innovative clusters and enhanced entrepreneurial ecosystems. While clusters represent similar firms within a geographic region focused on similar economic activities (Breschi and Malerba 2001; Clarkson et al. 2007), entrepreneurial ecosystems represent the collection of firms and domains of entrepreneurship that support these ventures and include six distinct areas: policies, finance, culture, supports, human capital, and markets (Liguori et al. 2019; Bendickson et al. 2020).