Toward sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems: mapping the ecosystem elements that enable sustainable startup formation.

Entrepreneurship research is increasingly evolving towards the theme of sustainability. At the same time, the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem perspec tive is progressively extending its focus to sustainable development. Despite these parallel advances, the two literatures have remained largely disconnected. This paper addresses this gap by examining which ecosys tem dimensions, measured at the regional level, are most relevant in enabling the transition towards Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. By integrating complementary frameworks and databases, we conduct a cluster analysis of 217 European regions to explore the overlaps between regional SDG coverage and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem dimen sions. Our results reveal a positive association between overall ecosystem development and a high concentration of sustainable startups, with finance and talent emerging as the most relevant dimensions, robust to regional scale. Interestingly, the network dimension – capturing regional connectedness – exhibits an inverse relationship with sustainability- oriented entrepreneurship. Moreover, the effects of institutional arrange ments are less pronounced than those of resource endowments in foster ing sustainable startups, whereas resource endowments appear more sensitive to regional scale. This misalignment is especially evident in regions with mature institutional and cultural frameworks, such as those in Northern and Western Europe, highlighting the need for differentiated policy approaches to support Sustainable Entrepreneurship across diverse regional contexts.