Co-working spaces for promoting entrepreneurship in sparse regions: the case of South Wales

Abstract

Co-working spaces are creative and energetic places where small firms, freelancers and start-ups, who have become tired of the isolation of their home offices and the distractions of their local coffee shops, can interact, share, build and co-create. Based on the existing literature and under the wider definition of co-working spaces, IndyCube and the Welsh Innovation Centre for Enterprise (Welsh ICE) can be identified as such in South Wales. These spaces provide support (moral, emotional, professional, financial) and facilities (infrastructure) to enable entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. This paper aims to provide an empirical exploration of whether co-working spaces can promote entrepreneurship in regions with sparse entrepreneurial environments by creating the hard infrastructure particularly designed in such a way that the soft infrastructure necessary for entrepreneurship can also emerge.