Entrepreneurship is often hailed as the engine of economic prosperity. As a result, accelerators, incubators, and small business development centers have proliferated — but do we really know how to best support entrepreneurs, and what role Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) should play? These questions framed the 2025 VIGS Summer Workshop, which convened a select group of scholars, practitioners, and ecosystem leaders in Vienna to critically examine the evolving role of ESOs. Organized by Larry Plummer (University of Colorado Colorado Springs) and Tiago Ratinho (IÉSEG School of Management) at the behest of Zoltán Ács (Modul University, VIGS Institute), the gathering carried the theme “Rethinking Entrepreneurial Support – A Collaborative Agenda for Practice, Pedagogy, and Research.”
The workshop opened with Jeff McMullen (Imperial College Business School), whose defining work on ESOs set the direction for participants. In his framing talk, he emphasized the need to view ESOs as organizations in their own right, underscored their relational components, and highlighted new avenues for research.
Victor Schiller (Bayes Business School) followed, drawing on his doctoral research on rural and resource-constrained ecosystems. He presented a design framework for Entrepreneur Support Processes (ESPs), stressed the importance of temporal dynamics and effectuation in shaping support systems, and opened discussion on the unique challenges and opportunities of rural entrepreneurship.
László Szerb (University of Pécs; Modul University & VIGS Institute) introduced the newly developed Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (DEE) Index. He outlined its role as a tool for measuring and comparing entrepreneurial capacity worldwide, emphasized the policy implications of digital infrastructures and institutions, and invited debate on how ESOs can be more effectively integrated into ecosystem-level measurement.
In addition to these featured talks, two panels broadened the discussion. The practice panel brought together leaders from university-based, policy-driven, and community-focused ESOs. It emphasized the diversity of approaches used to design and manage support structures, highlighted the tensions between experimentation and institutional accountability, and opened up reflection on what practices transfer effectively across contexts. The research panel gathered scholars working on incubators, accelerators, ecosystems, and the “entrepreneurship industry.” It underscored the need to theorize ESOs as subjects of research rather than just convenient settings, pointed to risks of overly optimistic or normative perspectives, and invited participants to explore fresh theoretical perspectives for advancing the field .
Building on these contributions, participants worked in groups to articulate pressing research questions for the future of ESO scholarship. The groups addressed how to classify and evaluate different “species” of ESOs, emphasized the impact of digitalization and circular economy concerns on ESO services, and opened up debate on the competencies required of ESO managers, the societal perception of ESOs, and their role in reducing disparities and brain drain.
Beyond the formal sessions, informal exchanges during a walk to Vienna’s Prater and a closing visit to a traditional wine garden reinforced the collaborative and community-driven spirit of the workshop.
By combining keynote talks, panels, and collaborative group work, the 2025 VIGS Summer Workshop marked an important step toward advancing a shared research agenda on how ESOs contribute to the design, functioning, and strategic relevance of entrepreneurial ecosystems worldwide.
