Recent contributions on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE) literature tend to highlight the need for a deeper theory-based discussion of the concept and a dynamic approach on the EE evolution. The objective of this article is to contribute to this on-going discussion by proposing a novel theoretical model to understand the origin and evolution of EE, paying special attention to the drivers that are relevant to explain the successive developments in the EE trajectory and the differences between developed and developing EE. We draw our model from the study of four different empirical settings: two well-known and developed EE (Silicon Valley and Israel), and two less developed and less studied EE (Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires).

Our model is composed by two ontologically different levels of dimensions: (i) framework conditions (culture, STI platform, business structure, social conditions and social capital) and (ii) five dynamics or drivers (the entrepreneurial dynamic, the business dynamic, the investment dynamic, the institutional dynamic, and the government and policy dynamic). Evolution, in our model, is conceptualized as a self-reinforcing process by which EE are constructed and developed over time, resulting from the co-evolution and interactions of the five dynamics and the framework conditions. Consequently, each EE would follow its own trajectory, moulded by its initial conditions, the relative importance of the different dynamics, and the interaction process between dynamics and framework conditions.