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Ben Spigel

  • Associate Professor
Academic Division: Entrepreneurship
Dr. Ben Spigel is an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship at Babson College in Boston, MA. His research and teaching focuses on entrepreneurial ecosystems and the geography of high-growth entrepreneurship. His work has helped establish the core definitions of entrepreneurial ecosystems and how they support the rapid growth of innovative ventures. He has research successful entrepreneurial ecosystems such as Waterloo, Ontario, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Boston as well as less successful ecosystems to better understand how regions can build prosperous, entrepreneurship-driven economies. This work has received numerous awards, including the Helena Yli-Renko Research Impact Award, the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Best Paper Prize, and the Richard M Schulze Family Foundation Publication Award. In addition to his research, he has consulted for the Governments of Scotland and Ontario as well InnovateUK. Prior to joining Babson he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Ben holds a PhD in Economic Geography from the University of Toronto.

Academic Degrees

  • Ph D, University of Toronto
  • MA, The Ohio State University

Academic Interest / Expertise

My work is focused on the geography of high-growth entrepreneurship — why are some places better than others when it comes to founding and growing innovative ventures. I primarily explore this through the lens of entrepreneurial ecosystems, the place-based actors and factors that catalyze venture growth. I am primarily interested in how entrepreneurs create the communities, resources, and environments they need to grow. I generally use qualitative approaches to understand how and why entrepreneurs grow, but I am also interested in innovative ways to use new big-data sets to understand global ecosystem developments.I am also interested in understanding the evolving political economy of entrepreneurship, particularly in how entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs have developed its current high social status within American culture and institutions. This involves looking at the power relationships inherent in entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurs leverage this as they grow their ventures.

Awards & Honors

  • 2025 — Top 1% of Researchers in Business and Economics, Top Researchers List
  • 2024 — Top 1% of Business & Management Researchers, World's Top 2% Scientists
  • 2023 — Best Paper Prize, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal
  • 2023 — Helena Yli-Renko Research Impact Award, AOM ENT Division
  • 2020 — Schulze Publication Award, Richard M Schulze Family Foundation
  • 2019 — Best Empirical Paper, Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division Award

Courses

  • Degree Courses 2026

    • FME 1001 FOUNDS MGMT & EPS

  • Degree Courses 2025

    • FME 1001 FOUNDS MGMT & EPS
    • FME 1000 FOUNDATIONS OF MGMT & ENTREPRENEURS

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Spigel, B., Kitagawa, F., Prokop, D., Vorley, T., CAMPOPIANO, G., Ramli, K., Gheres, C. (in press). Business Model Innovation in the Context of Crisis: A Qualitative Longitudinal Analysis. The Journal of Technology Transfer. Springer.
  • Wurth, B., Stam, E., Spigel, B. (2023). Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Mechanisms. Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship. Vol: 19, Issue: 3, Page: 224-339. NOW Publishers.
  • Ramli, K., Spigel, B., Williams, N., Mawson, S., Jack, S. (2023). Managing through a crisis: Emotional leadership strategies of high-growth entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development: An International Journal.
  • Munoz, P., Kimmit, J., Spigel, B. (in press). Trans-Contextual Work: Doing Entrepreneurial Contexts in the Periphery. Small Business Economics. Vol: 62, Page: 602-608. Springer.
  • Spigel, B., Khalid, F., Wolfe, D. (2022). Alacrity: A new model for venture acceleration. International Entrepreneurship & Management Journal.
  • Spigel, B. (2022). Examining the cohesiveness and nestedness entrepreneurial ecosystems: Evidence from British fintechs. Small Business Economics.
  • Spigel, B., Khalid, F. (2022). Accelerators, acceleration, and policy mobility in entrepreneurial ecosystems. Review of Entrepreneurship / Revue de l'Entrepreneuriat.
  • Spigel, B., Vinodrai, T. (2021). Meeting its Waterloo? Recycling in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems after Anchor Firm Collapse. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development: An International Journal.
  • Bernd, W., Stam, E., Spigel, B. (2021). Towards an entrepreneurial ecosystem research program. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
  • Spigel, B., Kitagawa, F., Mason, C. (2020). A manifesto for researching entrepreneurial ecosystems. Local Economy.
  • Spigel, B., Bathelt, H. (2018). Questioning cultural narratives of economic development—an investigation of Kitchener-Waterloo. Canadian Geographer.
  • Spigel, B., Harrison, R. (2018). Towards a process theory of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.
  • Spigel, B. (2017). Bourdieu, culture, and the economic geography of practice: entrepreneurial mentorship in Ottawa and Waterloo, Canada. Journal of Economic Geography.
  • Spigel, B. (2017). The relational organisation of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
  • Spigel, B. (2016). Developing and governing entrepreneurial ecosystems: The structure of entrepreneurial support programs in Edinburgh, Scotland. International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development.
  • Muellerleile, C., Stauss, K., Spigel, B., Narrins, T. (2014). Economic geography and the financial crisis: Full speed ahead or missing the boat. The Professional Geographer.
  • Spigel, B. (2013). Bourdieuian approaches to the geography of entrepreneurial cultures. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development: An International Journal.
  • Bathelt, H., Munro, A., Spigel, B. (2013). Challenges of transformation: Innovation, re-bundling and traditional manufacturing in Canada’s Technology Triangle. Regional Studies.
  • Spigel, B. (2012). The sources of regional variation in Canadian self-employment. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
  • Bathelt, H., Spigel, B. (2012). The spatial economy of North American trade fairs. The Canadian Geographer.
  • Bathelt, H., Spigel, B. (2011). University spin-offs and regional policy in comparative perspective: The cases of Columbus (Ohio) and Toronto and Waterloo (Ontario).. International Journal for Knowledge-Based Development.
  • Jones, B., , E., Spigel, B. (2010). Blog links as pipelines to buzz elsewhere: The case of New York theatre blogs. Environment and Planning B.

Conference Proceedings

  • Crosina, E., Ratinho, T., Sarasvathy, S., Gartner, W.B., Spigel, B., Von Briel, F. (2025). Entrepreneurial Identity & Effectuation Theory: Effectuation Next: Toward New Theoretical Developments. Academy of Management Proceedings. link

Book Chapters

  • Hong, M., Spigel, B. (2024). The Kaleidoscope of Configurations: Actor/Role Configurations within Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Cities and Regions. Oxford University Press. link
  • Spigel, B. (2020). Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: What They're Made of and How They Work: Entrepreneurship & Innovation Exchange. link
  • Stam, E., Spigel, B. (2018). Entrepreneurial ecosystems: SAGE Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
  • Spigel, B. (2018). Envisioning a New Research Agenda for Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Top-down and Bottom-up Approaches: Firm Emergence and Growth Volume 20: Reflections and Extensions on Key Papers of the First Twenty-Five Years of Advances.
  • Spigel, B., Malecki, E. (2017). Entrepreneurship and innovation: The Elgar Companion to Innovation and Knowledge Creation.
  • Spigel, B. (2016). Networking practices and networking cultures: Geographies of Entrepreneurship.
  • Brunelle, C., Spigel, B. (2016). Path dependency, entrepreneurship, and economic resilience in resource-driven economies. Lessons from the Newfoundland offshore oil industry: Creating Resilient Economies: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Development in Uncertain Times.
  • Spigel, B. (2016). The Cultural embeddedness of regional innovation: A Bourdieuian perspective: Handbook on the Geographies of Innovation.
  • Spigel, B. (2011). A series of unfortunate events: The growth, decline and rebirth of Ottawa’s entrepreneurial institutions: Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Development, Volume 22.

Books

  • Spigel, B. (2020). Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Theory, Practice, and Futures. Edward Elgar.

Other

  • Spigel, B. (2017). Mentoring vital to ensure Edinburgh carries on developing entrepreneurs: The Times. link

Presentations

  • The Ones Who Walk Away from Boston: Towards a Model of Engaging and Disengaging from Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. RETHINKING ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE, Colombia, SC (2025)
  • The Ones Who Walk Away from Boston: Towards a Model of Engaging AND Disengaging from Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. Crosina, E. Randolph, A. Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Wellesley, MA (2025)
  • The Ones Who Walk Away from Boston: Engaging and Disengaging from Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. Crosina, E. Randolph, A. New England Management Mini-Conference, Watertown (2025)
  • Those who walk away from Boston: Engagement and Disengagement in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto (2025)
  • The Ones Who Walk Away from Boston: Engaging and Disengaging from Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. Randolph, A. Crosina, E. University of Pittsburgh Invited Talk, Pittsburgh (2024)
  • Inclusive Ecosystems: Why Aren’t Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Equitable Spigel, B. Diana Research Talk, Online (2024)
  • Learning to Grow in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. Nottingham University Research Seminar, Nottingham, UK (2024)
  • Learning in Ecosystems Spigel, B. FOSTERING INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE, Copenhagen (2023)
  • Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Spigel, B. European Council of Small Business, Online (2021)
  • Entrepreneurial Networks and Ecosystems during the Covid-19 Crisis: Evidence from the ERICC project Spigel, B. The Evolution, Persistence, and Success of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, online (2021)
  • What we know and what we don’t know about how ecosystems work Spigel, B. Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Convening, Dublin (2018)
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