Summary

Recent research has found pronounced differences in the level of entrepreneurship and new business formation across various regions and nations. This timely Handbook reveals that the development of new ventures as well as their effects on overall economic growth is strongly shaped by their regional and national environment. The expert group of contributors give an overview on the current state of the art in this field and propose avenues for further investigation. Topics include the regional determinants of new business formation, the effects of start-ups on growth, the role of globalization for regional entrepreneurship, the effect of national and regional framework conditions, as well as the role of universities as incubators of innovative new firms.