Nicholas Vonortas
George Washington University, DC·Social Science
Some U.S. regions spawn many new companies and industries, while others struggle to.
- Fields
Social Science
- Topics
entrepreneurial ecosystems
entrepreneurship
regional economic development
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2027
What they work on
- Build a data platform tracking innovation, human capital, industry, infrastructure and culture indicators for all 381 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, the government-defined city regions.
- Classify entrepreneurial ecosystems into distinct types and identify the combinations of conditions found in successful ones, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).
- Identify the pathways regions follow as they become entrepreneurial ecosystems by analyzing their historical trajectories, spatial layouts and industry focus, supported by case studies.
More about the research
Policymakers increasingly want to invest outside established hubs such as Silicon Valley, but they need to know what successful entrepreneurial ecosystems look like and how regions become one. This project asks two related questions: what configurations of conditions mark successful ecosystems, and what paths regions follow as they develop.
Why it matters
The results are meant to guide place-based innovation policy, meaning public investment aimed at specific regions. Officials seeking to build up emerging regions and new advanced industry hubs beyond places like Silicon Valley could use a typology of successful ecosystems and their development paths. This could help them choose investments that broaden U.S. economic competitiveness.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Nancy Gonzales
Arizona State University Campus Immersion, AZ·Social Science
Deliver NSF I-Corps entrepreneurial training online and in multiple formats across a five-state Desert and Pacific network, to address skill gaps in launching deep technology ventures.
Timothy Miller
Saint Francis University, PA·Education Research
Build innovation capacity at each of five primarily undergraduate institutions, developing campus structures for industry partnerships, entrepreneurship, experiential learning and research suited to undergraduate-focused colleges.
Sara Cahan
University of Vermont, VT·Education Research
Create INVEST, a university-wide initiative at the University of Vermont that provides training and resources to turn laboratory discoveries into practical applications, products and tools.
The school
George Washington University: 13 labs on PI Pages, $382M a year on research, 225 research doctorates a year.
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