Start-up ecosystems: the experience of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia

The present article aims to empirically confirm the role of start-up ecosystems in shaping and increasing the role of entrepreneurial activity in the socio-economic development of the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). The following tasks were addressed sequentially: determining the relevance of the topic of start-up ecosystems, reflecting the given multifaceted phenomenon in the socio-economic works by contemporary authors, and examining the experience of teams of international research projects focused on start-up ecosystems. Subsequently, the role of start-up ecosystems in the Baltic countries was assessed from a comparative standpoint. The paramount factors that serve as significant positive conditions for their impact on start-up ecosystems and the factors that hinder their positive dynamics were identified. The empirical basis for the research was international research projects: Global Start-up Ecosystem Report, data science competition platform Kaggle, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTGI)), Global Competitiveness Report by World Economic Forum, as well as the authors’ own research studies on entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial universities. Causal and comparative analyses were used as the main research methods. During the research work, the terminology used was clarified so that it matched the main subject of the study – start-up ecosystems as the most important factor in the development of the innovative economy of countries and regions. A ranking of the factors that most positively influence the effectiveness of start-up ecosystems, especially from the perspective of their financing opportunities, were carried out. The study results showed the importance of start-up ecosystems among other drivers of the country’s socio-economic growth. The role of higher education, state and municipal support in expanding the practice of start-up ecosystems was also shown. In this aspect, it is extremely important to expand the practice of entrepreneurial education for students of all specialities, gradually transforming educational and research higher schools into entrepreneurial universities.