Hard facts or soft insights? Fact-based and participative approaches to entrepreneurship ecosystems policy and management

Policy practice focuses increasingly on entrepreneurship ecosystems, yet the implications of this concept for policy analysis and management remain under-studied. Drawing on research on analysis and management of other socio-economic ecosystems, primarily socio-ecological ecosystems but also innovation ecosystems and community development ecosystems, we conducted a theoretical examination of the challenges of policy analysis and management in entrepreneurship ecosystems. Using a Scottish entrepreneurship ecosystem initiative as our empirical context, we conclude that participative policy design approaches are likely to give rise to better informed, targeted, and implemented policy initiatives in the context of entrepreneurship ecosystems.