The complementarity perspective to the entrepreneurial ecosystem taxonomy

In recent years, there has been increased interest in fast-growing regions and the role played by entrepreneurship ecosystems (EEs) in regional economic development. Building on the entrepreneurship and economic geography literatures, we apply a complementarity perspective to demonstrate that the elements of the EE taxonomy are not independent of each other but in fact are able to work as complementors to each other. The EE taxonomy is therefore a dynamic taxonomy. Very few non-metropolitan regions will possess all four elements of the EE taxonomy in significantly strong levels. So, complementarity between the taxonomy elements within a region is crucial to supporting development for most EEs. We apply this complementarity perspective to the case of the Greater Reading region in the UK. We expect the readership to extend beyond the academic community to policy and entrepreneurship practitioner audiences interested in supporting EE development.