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Understanding the success of regional entrepreneurial startup ecosystems is crucial for the advancement of local economies, job creation and growth. The current paper takes a unique theoretically focused look at common ecosystem elements that regional startup ecosystems may need to pay extra attention to in order to become as competitive as top-tier startup ecosystems. In our analysis, we compare two prominent models on elements of ecosystems: the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Elements by Stam and van de Ven (2019 and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Diagnostic Toolkit (2013). We conclude this paper with drawing up eight propositions and an invitation for future empirical research to test these propositions in practice.
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In the Ems-Dollart-region in the North of the Netherlands and North-West Germany, startups are contributing to the region’s economy. In principal, well-developed startup and entrepreneurship ecosystems are an important factor for prosperity. Such ecosystems consist of companies, regional policy institutions, universities and other private or public organisations. In a functioning entrepreneurship ecosystem, these players optimally interact with each other. In January 2019, the project “Startup Perspectives” (Bakker et al., 2019) explored the opportunities and possibilities that a cross-border startup scene would bring to the Ems-Dollart-region. Based on this research, the Startup Ems-Dollart-region project emerged. Within the Interreg V A scheme, the project is funded by Interreg/EDR and runs from June 1st 2019-June 30th 2022. The aim of the Startup Ems-Dollart-region project is to facilitate a cross-border startup ecosystem between the three provinces of Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen on the Dutch side and the WeserEms region in Germany. This will entail the formation of a (digital) network for the startup scene, tailored mentoring programs for young entrepreneurs and the development of entrepreneurship education programs with a cross-border focus. Overall, a sustainable and long-lasting entrepreneurship ecosystem shall facilitate cross-border activities among young entrepreneurs and startups.To gain an understanding of the current entrepreneurship environment in all the regions, a mapping of the relevant stakeholders took place at the beginning of the project. This report will summarize the key findings of this mapping exercise.