The term “entrepreneurial ecosystem” was first used in the mid-1980s to describe the overall supportive environment for venture creation and success, with Silicon Valley as the prototypical example. It has been generally accepted that a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem is associated with both venture creation and venture success, although the research results are inconclusive and mixed. In addition, the definition and usage of the term has become less crisp as new categories have emerged, such as intrapreneurs and social entrepreneurs, as new funding sources are created, such as micro-lending and crowd-funding, and as digitization has decreased the necessity to be physically located in a geographic location.

This paper updates and expands the definition of entrepreneurial ecosystems and compares the updated term to two different types of entrepreneurial ecosystems, traditional technology-based and social entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial ecosystems for technology ventures and social ventures in the Philadelphia are used to illustrate the differences and to recommend strengthening both ecosystems.