Towards sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: mapping the ecosystem elements as enablers of sustainable entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship research is increasingly evolving towards the theme ofsustainability. At the same time, the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem perspec-tive is progressively extending its focus to sustainable development.Despite these parallel advances, the two literatures have remained largelydisconnected. This paper addresses this gap by examining which ecosys-tem dimensions, measured at the regional level, are most relevant inenabling the transition towards Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems.By integrating complementary frameworks and databases, we conducta cluster analysis of 217 European regions to explore the overlapsbetween regional SDG coverage and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem dimen-sions. Our results reveal a positive association between overall ecosystemdevelopment and a high concentration of sustainable startups, withfinance and talent emerging as the most relevant dimensions, robust toregional scale. Interestingly, the network dimension – capturing regionalconnectedness – exhibits an inverse relationship with sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship. Moreover, the effects of institutional arrange-ments are less pronounced than those of resource endowments in foster-ing sustainable startups, whereas resource endowments appear moresensitive to regional scale. This misalignment is especially evident inregions with mature institutional and cultural frameworks, such as thosein Northern and Western Europe, highlighting the need for differentiatedpolicy approaches to support Sustainable Entrepreneurship across diverseregional contexts.