Globalisation, entrepreneurship and regional environment

Entrepreneurship has been a strategic driver in facilitating the adjustment to technological change and supporting competitiveness in terms of place. Only two decades ago the conventional wisdom predicted that globalisation would destroy the region as a meaningful unit of economic analysis. Yet the obsession of policy-makers around the globe to 'create the next Silicon Valley' revealed the increased importance of geographic proximity and regional agglomerations as well as of the role of SMEs and entrepreneurial activity. This article explains the relation between entrepreneurship and space which emerged after the advent of the information and communication technology revolution and the resulting wave of globalisation. But the study of strategic management of regions still needs to address a number of methodological issues. Contrasting results and methodological issues affect entrepreneurship research in this field, many questions by economic actors are unanswered and the valorisation of results for practise remains complex. The 2008 RENT XXII conference held at the University of Beira Interior in Covilhã, Portugal, invited international scholars to discuss on the topic of 'Entrepreneurship as an engine of regional development'. This article opens a special issue based on the best papers presented at the conference, resumes the state of the field and opens directions for future research.

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