Unraveling the multi-scalar and evolutionary forces of entrepreneurial ecosystems: A historical event analysis applied to IoT Valley

Abstract

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) have attracted growing attention in the academic world as well as in policy spheres during this last decade. The internal and systemic mechanics of EEs are now based on solid theoretical and empirical foundations. However, few analyses have addressed how the structure and development of EEs are affected by and affect, in turn, the underlying competitive and regulatory dynamics that play out globally. To fill this gap, first, we use a multi-scalar framework where EEs are defined as local micro-organizations which are embedded both in regional contexts and in global market dynamics. Second, we suggest using the building blocks of EEs as the key components of a historical event analysis applied to the case of the IoT Valley in Toulouse (France), a digital EE dedicated to Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, from 2009 to 2019. This allows us to discern how events and scales work together over time and to offer a more complete and robust view of how EE dynamics result from the kinetics between entrepreneurial forces, regional context, and the worldwide battle between business ecosystems developing IoT platforms.