AEGIS · Advancing knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship and innovation for growth and social well-being in Europe

The proposed research project will study the interactions between knowledge, economic growth and social wellbeing in Europe. It focuses on knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship as a necessary mechanism and an agent of change mediating between the creation of knowledge and its transformation into economic activity. Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship is perceived herein as a core interface between two interdependent systems: the knowledge generation and diffusion system, on the one hand, and the productive system, on the other. Both systems shape and are shaped by the broader social context – including customs, culture, and institutions – thus also pointing at the linkage of entrepreneurship to that context. The project has three main objectives (research thrusts). At the micro level, it purports to study in depth the very act of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship, its defining characteristics, boundaries, scope and incentives. At the macro level, it will study the link between knowledge entrepreneurship, economic growth and social wellbeing, also extending to the socio-economic processes that help transform the “animal spirits” (John Maynard Keynes) into a self-reinforcing process for broader societal prosperity. The way the broader socio-economic environment stokes “animal spirits” and benefits from them will be studied within the contexts of various shades of capitalism in Europe and elsewhere, expanding beyond the growth accounting and endogenous growth approaches and issues to novel concepts of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship in growth and, further, into the underlying issues of social wellbeing such as inclusion, cohesion, equity, opportunities, and social care. Finally, at the policy level, the project will take a systemic approach aiming at an organic integration of diverse sets of policies that influence the creation and growth of innovative entrepreneurial ventures based on knowledge generation and diffusion.