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Smart specialisation is a major driver of contemporary regional development policy in the European Union. Politicians, policymakers, and academics enthusiastically wave smart specialisation as the remedy that will fix the problems affecting previous policy rounds. The expectations towards the ‘remedial' effect of smart specialisation bear on the assumption that the policy approach will place the emphasis on what is unique in a given region by means of a so-called entrepreneurial process of discovery, basically a wide participatory process, underpinning a learning mechanism aimed at revealing the R&D and innovation domains in which that region can hope to excel. Universities are generally seen as central organisations in smart specialisation strategies, as made explicit in policy documents and academic papers. The chapter aims at knowing more about the power of smart specialisation policies to induce change in university-industry interactions and the promotion of sustainable growth.

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Research on the relationship between entrepreneurship and context has gained considerable attention in recent years. However, this stream of literature has yet to adequately address the topic of entrepreneurship in rural areas. This chapter intends to fill this gap by investigating the extent to which technological-related factors affect the performance of new ventures located in rural and urban areas. Based on a sample of 408 newly created ventures located in Portuguese business incubators (BIs) and science parks (SPs), and employing logistic estimations, two main conclusions were derived. They are 1) support from BIs/SPs matters the most to the export and global innovation performance of new ventures located in rural areas and 2) support from universities and other higher education institutions, and the regularity of research and development (R&D) collaborations between new ventures and R&D institutions are more relevant to the turnover and innovation performance of new ventures located in urban areas than those in rural areas. © 2021, IGI Global.

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The purpose of this special issue is to assemble high quality papers that deepen and boost understanding the role of open innovation and knowledge on business ecosystems development. This special issue includes ten papers specific related to the special issue topic: Open Innovation and Knowledge for Fostering Business Ecosystems. Jointly, the papers scrutinize and explore this subject using different theoretical backgrounds and methodologies. Individually, each paper provides interesting insights concerning the singularities they explore. (C) 2018 Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.

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Purpose Considering the differences between rural and urban spaces, through the theoretical framework developed, the purpose of this paper is to uncover and rationalize the differences between rural and urban new ventures in terms of the environment surrounding the new venture, their general characteristics (e.g. sector, size) and export/economic performance. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework is empirically assessed resorting to exploratory statistical analysis based on data collected from a questionnaire survey responded by 408 new ventures headquartered in Portuguese business incubators and science parks. The data collected were treated with the Software Package for the Social Sciences. Findings The results evidence that rural and urban new ventures differ in terms of generic characteristics, namely sector, size and collaborators' human capital. Additionally, they differ concerning export and economic performance as well in relation to the perception of the municipality support. Originality/value The present study innovatively contributes to uncover the role of rural and urban context in entrepreneurship and adds to the scanty empirical literature in the area.

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