Public Accelerators – Developing Resources in Nascent Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Abstract

This study elaborates the role of public accelerators as anchor tenants in the early evolution of entrepreneurial ecosystems from the perspective of entrepreneurial resources. This study selected Santiago de Chile as an empirical location since this ecosystem has rapidly developed in the last few years with strong involvement of a public accelerator called Start-Up Chile. What characterizes Start-Up Chile’s approach is its strategic aim to develop its local entrepreneurial ecosystem by attracting foreign entrepreneurs to utilize their resources. This study applies an inductive qualitative approach with a single case study with Start-Up Chile in the Santiago entrepreneurial ecosystem. It develops a conceptual model to demonstrate how a public accelerator develops nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem resources as an anchor tenant.