摘要：The entrepreneurial ecosystems literature lists numerous factors, emphasizing their interactions. However,
there is limited empirical literature exploring the causal mechanisms, nor an understanding of the relative
importance of these factors. This paper places the entrepreneur at the centre of the analysis by
constructing a career history network of over 2100 Irish high-tech entrepreneurs. It finds that prior
employment experience can be used to measure the prominence of different actors anticipated in the
entrepreneurial ecosystem literature. Regional universities play an anchor role within each regional
entrepreneurial ecosystem. Universities are indirectly connected to other organizations to form an
integrated network that supports high-tech entrepreneurship. This approach may be used to assess and
motivate interventions to support integration and anchor organization establishment that enhances
regional entrepreneurial activity.
关键词：entrepreneurial ecosystems ; prior experience ; knowledge capital ; networks
