Local and Institutional Factors of Start-Up Ecosystems: Common and Inherited Attributes

Abstract

Start-ups and creative industries have gone through an amazing development since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The location of start-ups and creative industries has been shown to be consistent with the factors of agglomeration externalities and networking of actors. The presence of talented people, as well as an advanced managerial culture, are similarly vital for both sectors. In Slovakia, the government has only recently recognised the potential of start-ups and the creative economy (2013) although the global trend was anticipated by the private and non-profit sectors a couple of years prior to that. Not surprisingly, the first major co-working spaces and young innovative businesses emerged in the capital city Bratislava in 2010. In the east Slovak city of Kosice, the first activities only appeared in 2013 within the premises of the Technical University. So far, these young start-up ecosystems have emerged on different foundations. The idea of local and institutional factors of start-up ecosystems has been formulated and evolved into a new theoretical framework. The research on city start-up ecosystems is based on interviews with start-up owners, gurus, venture capitalists, enthusiasts and observers and has resulted in the formulation of the concept of common and inherited ecosystem attributes.