Growth of an Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
How does one create an open, entrepreneurial culture that might enable growth in an existing set of policies and systems?
How does one incite a culture of challenging the status quo, of embracing change?
How does one architect an equitable ecosystem where both the haves and have-nots can prosper?
In October 2015, the Kauffman Foundation published a research piece authored by George Mason University Associate Professor Phil Auerswald entitled “Enabling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems” with the apt subtitle “Insights from Ecology to Inform Effective Entrepreneurship Policy.” In his research, Auerswald crafts a message that advises the ecosystem architect and builder to heed and implement the following six ingredients:
- Favor incumbents less.
- Listen to entrepreneurs.
- Map the ecosystem.
- Think big, start small, move fast.
- Avoid artificially segmenting your community or your strategies.
- Prepare to capitalize on crises.
And what of the global stage, one with a more socially conscious bent? Another interesting entrepreneurship ecosystem model is employed by Koltai & Company to further economic equity and independence as a way to induce world peace. Now, that’s a noble effort! Koltai’s 6+6 model employs a sensible approach to social entrepreneurship needs across the globe.
And what about the culture and composition of a thriving, fast growing business? At the nucleus of a healthy entrepreneurship ecosystem is people and the success of each enterprise, and the culture within. In Central Maryland, there is ever-increasing energy behind the Conscious Capitalism movement. The four foci of purpose, stakeholder, leadership, and culture are gaining in global popularity, moreover enlivening and originating business for the 21st century.
And, what of particular industries within an entrepreneurship ecosystem? What of the Ed-Med-Fed thesis that depicts industry core competencies in the Baltimore-Washington corridor? Certainly the successes of edtech, health IT and biotechnology, and cyber software have had and continue to have a massively positive impact on the region. What of the successes shouldered by universities, incubators, and economic development agencies? As stated in previous posts, the U.S. Department of Education has been tracking and enabling what it calls education innovation clusters through the Department of Education Technology and in partnership with Congressionally chartered Digital Promise. Of course, there is also the 50 year work of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (or EDA) under the Department of Commerce and the various regional, state, and local attempts at mirroring and contextualizing the same. The growth of education innovation clusters across the United States is incremental but steady. Follow happenings here for information on cluster convenings.
Over two years ago, I chose self-disruption for the second time in my career, a choice to make an economic and entrepreneurial transition to lower in the ‘food chain’ — from a national venture capital platform to a university entrepreneurship perch. From a newly wrought position at Towson University, I endeavor to make a difference in an increasingly entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Baltimore metro and within an institutional growth engine of the University System of Maryland .
Last week, wholly adorned with my my Towson University hat, I was engaged in a planning call with some edtech incubator and accelerator leaders representing hubs up and down the Northeast Corridor. The call was designed primarily to focus on the near term evolution of National Education Week in New York City, a reincarnation of a successful event twice held in Washington, DC. However, what was clear on the call was that the majority of participants were focused on a ‘big tent’ strategy, on how we might strengthen the breadth of the northeast education innovation corridor and how that work might create strength in each tent pole, node, or metro hub.
In summary, the growth of entrepreneurship ecosystems is dependent on people, policy, process, and polemics, that is the vigorous attack of that which has always been done the same way. As modern societies and economies evolve, so must their entrepreneurial ecosystems. As 18th century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau opined:
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”
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