Abstract
The series of short papers that follow this introduction represent the outcome of an exciting symposium-style graduate programme on Citizen Entrepreneurship (CE) which I ran at the Leuphana University in Luneburg, Germany. The programme ran from November 2023 to February 2024 with a critical introduction to a novel form of entrepreneurship which encourages citizen engagement with ecosystem-based initiatives to combat and try and overcome meta challenges as they affect their local regions. With experiences drawn from around the world and especially from the Regional Studies Association Research Network on Citizen Entrepreneurship (RSARNCE) project, the programme exposed students to new ways of thinking about economic and social issues affecting people’s lives and citizens of now and in the future, and how they could be resolved by them with local ecosystem stakeholders. Underpinning any resolution are theoretical considerations of entrepreneurship and innovation as social goods (based on Joseph Schumpeter’s vision of entrepreneurship), place and location as a ‘commons’ (drawn from Elinor Ostrom’s ideas) and the development of capabilities, with which to obtain freedom of choice and achieve economic and social aspirations (based on Amartya Sen’s conceptualization).
The papers were chosen from a larger crop of submissions on what CE means in today’s world, how it applies in different contexts, how it could be developed as a vehicle for collective economic benefit and social development, and how research using citizen science tools could be utilized to generate empirical evidence for further action on both research and policy fronts.
We have a very insightful collection displaying a fine range of intellectual capabilities, the use of focused creativity and imagination, together with a search for entrepreneurial solutions that the young can bring to our challenges today.
Read and enjoy.