Planned Success? How Policy, Investment, and a Tech-Innovation Mindset Shape Shenzhen’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

This study investigates the factors behind Shenzhen’s emergence as a globally recognised entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE). Unlike many Western, market-driven models, Shenzhen’s development was shaped by state-led industrial planning, strategic interventions, and major investments in digital infrastructure. This distinctive evolution raises the question of how transferable such a model is to other regional contexts. Drawing on a qualitative case study based on expert interviews and document analysis, this study identifies key drivers across six EE elements: policy, finance, markets, human capital, support, and culture. A two-dimensional evaluation model is developed to assess both the influence and transferability of these factors. These findings demonstrate that many finance- and support-related interventions are adaptable to other contexts. In contrast, core mechanisms, such as regulatory flexibility and sector-specific steering, are highly context-dependent and harder to replicate. This study contributes to EE theory by providing a structured framework for evaluating ecosystem interventions and broadening the discourse beyond Western-centric perspectives.