Firm Interactions and Potential Ecosystems: A Bottom-Up Approach to Territorial Network Analysis

Ugo Fratesi and Pietro Vicari

No 2612, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: The concept of ecosystem has gained significant traction, both in academic and policy domains, however, most of the literature adopts given spatial scales, mostly regional statistical units, and then investigates the extent to which those places exhibit ecosystem features. To contribute overcoming this limit, this paper proposes a bottom-up methodology to identify “potential ecosystems†, i.e. clusters of local labour systems aggregated on the basis of firm interactions and territorial networks. The methodology is illustrated and validated with Italian data where identified “ potential ecosystems†are shown to exhibit several of the features that are expected in actual ecosystems. This methodological innovation could provide a support to evidence-based regional policy, e.g. better targeting areas for innovation measures.

Keywords: Ecosystems; Firm Networks; Cluster Identification; Regional Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 R12 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07, Revised 2026-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-sbm and nep-uep
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