Institutional Space-Making for Equity in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Evidence from U.S. Cities

Abstract

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) are widely viewed as engines of innovation, economic development, and opportunity, yet prior research offers limited insight into how equity is institutionally produced and sustained, particularly for minority- and women-owned businesses. We introduce institutional space-making—the purposeful construction of governance, relational, and organizational environments that enable equitable participation—as a core institutional mechanism for ecosystem redesign. Drawing on a multi-city case analysis of the Ascend program across 13 U.S. cities, we identify 3 interrelated processes: (a) structural redesign that confronts exclusionary rules, routines, and evaluative logics; (b) relational mobilization through institutional entrepreneurship that assembles cross-sector coalitions to reconfigure resource flows and opportunity structures; and (c) organizational and implementation practices that embed cultural responsiveness through trust-building and adaptive coordination. Findings show that inclusive ecosystems emerge when these processes are jointly enacted, linking ecosystem design with everyday implementation. Our study advances EE theory by specifying how equity is produced through institutional redesign and offers actionable guidance for policymakers and ecosystem builders seeking durable inclusion.