Regional Knowledge, Entrepreneurial Culture and Innovative Start-ups over Time and Space - An Empirical Investigation

Michael Fritsch () and Michael Wyrwich

No 2018-001, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: We investigate the role of entrepreneurship culture and the historical knowledge base of a region on current levels of new business formation in innovative industries. The analysis is for German regions and covers the time period 1907-2014. We find a pronounced positive relationship between high levels of historical self-employment in science-based industries and new business formation in innovative industries today. This long-term legacy effect of entrepreneurial tradition indicates the prevalence of a regional culture of entrepreneurship. Moreover, local presence and geographic proximity to a technical university founded before the year 1900 is positively related to the level of innovative start-ups more than a century later. The results show that a considerable part of the knowledge that constitutes an important source of entrepreneurial opportunities is deeply rooted in history. We draw conclusions for policy and for further research.

Keywords: Innovative start-ups; universities; regional knowledge; regional cultures of entrepreneurship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 L60 L80 O18 R12 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-his, nep-ind, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-sbm, nep-tid and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (44)

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Journal Article: Regional knowledge, entrepreneurial culture, and innovative start-ups over time and space―an empirical investigation (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2018-001

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