Innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurial opportunity

Entrepreneurship as a field of study has attracted considerable attention from both researchers and practitioners in recent years. The field is structured around a certain number of paradigms (Verstraete & Fayolle, 2005), of which opportunity is one of the most prominent (Vekataraman, 1997; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000; Shane, 2003, 2012). This paradigm is construed as a three- step process, corresponding to the recognition, evaluation, and seizing of entrepreneurial opportunities. The objective of this research is twofold: first, to understand the different types of links connecting entrepreneurs to other actors in their innovation ecosystems which help them to recognize, assess, and seize entrepreneurial opportunities as well as to identify the major players within this ecosystem. To this end we present an exploratory qualitative study focusing on the key actors in the innovation ecosystem of the Loire department of France, in particular its institutions, support networks, and clusters. Our results reveal the existence of strong connections between the different actors which make up this ecosystem. Furthermore, the creation of strong bondsof trust between these actors is facilitated by their geographical and relational proximity. Actors collaborate on projects involving businesses, and start- ups in particular. All these elements combine to allow businesses to recognize and seize entrepreneurial opportunities.