Open Workshop: The Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Index 2017-2022 – The case of the Baltic Countries
The aim of the Open Workshop Series in Business and Management Studies is to promote top-quality academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences. This is a unique opportunity for sharing knowledge and networking with local and international community members.
Speaker: Prof. Dr. László Szerb, University of Pécs, Faculty of Business and Economics and VIGS Institute, Modul University, Vienna
The study of Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (DEE) provides a robust framework for evaluating and enhancing the digital entrepreneurial landscape across countries. To capture the scope and performance of these ecosystems, we introduce the DEE Index, a multi-dimensional composite indicator grounded in a novel conceptual framework. The DEE Index synthesizes two related streams of literature: the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the digital ecosystem. This integrated approach situates digital entrepreneurship at the intersection of users, platforms, and institutions. It distinguishes between two biotic components—users and agents who embody entrepreneurial agency—and two abiotic components—digital infrastructure and institutional context—which form the external enabling environment. Unlike traditional entrepreneurial ecosystems, which often center on single agents, digital ecosystems involve multiple interdependent agents who co-create value through digitally mediated processes.
The DEE Index framework comprises 12 pillars, 24 variables, and 65 indicators, with data covering 170 countries over a six-year period (2017–2022). This methodology allows for the identification of bottlenecks and weak components that constrain the efficiency of national DEEs, offering practical insights for evidence-based policymaking. In this presentation, we analyze the DEE performance of the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—based on 2022 data. We present each country’s overall ranking, the structure and trends of the four sub-indices from 2017 to 2022, and a detailed pillar-level breakdown. The analysis concludes with targeted policy recommendations informed by the bottleneck assessment.
Prof. László Szerb completed his Masters at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Business and Economics in 1984, and in 1994 he earned a PhD in Economics at West Virginia University. Currently he is a full professor at the Department of Management Science at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Business and Economics, and the Director of the Doctoral School of Regional Policy and Economics. Since September 2024 he is a part time senior researcher at Modul University, Vienna Institute of Global Studies. He received his Doctor of Science from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2012. He has been a visiting professor in many European countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, the UK and in the US.
Besides a wide-scale experience in teaching during his academic career, his current research subjects are mainly related to entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship policy, small business management, competitiveness; and he also gives lectures in regional research methods at the Doctoral School of Regional Policy and Economics. Szerb has also been a supervisor of 15 PhD students successfully defended their dissertation. He participated as a leading researcher or team member in several international and national research projects. In 2001-2016, he was the leader of the Hungarian team in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) international. Fuelled by his experience in the GEM projects and more than two-decade academic research, he established the GEDI Institute and along with Professor Zoltan J. Acs founded the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) that is the first tool to track national-level entrepreneurship and economic development in European as well as in global economies.
His research work is devoted to entrepreneurship ecosystem, small businesses, entrepreneurial finance, and most recently he is dealing with the measurement of small business competitiveness and digital entrepreneurship. His publications include 83 journal articles (including Journal of Technology Transfer, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Journal of Small Business Management, Regional Studies, European Economic Review, Research Policy, Small Business Economics, Economic Inquiry, Venture Capital) 26 books and 52 book chapters. His Google Scholar citations are over 11 800, Scopus citation number is 3130 and h-index of 23. He is editor of the Journal of Small Business Economics, former editor-in-chief of Marketing and Management (2014-2018) and a member of the editorial boards of several international and national journals.
Discussion moderated by Prof. Arnis Sauka.
Attendance is free of charge.
Please sign up for the seminar, by writing to arnis.sauka@sseriga.edu by April 24, 2025.
The aim of the SSE Riga Open Workshop Series is to:
- Foster cooperation between business and management researchers, practitioners and policymakers, as well as
- Promote academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences, focusing on but not limited to entrepreneurship, marketing, management, public administration, and strategy.
Organised by Professor Arnis Sauka, the Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga