Entrepreneurs are considered an important source of innovation, acting as agents of change in developed societies. For entrepreneurs to develop, entrepreneurial ecosystems are required. These environments are complex heterogeneous systems. However, the atomization of the subsystem of agencies and organisms supporting entrepreneurial activity can cause problems. To solve this governance problem, a social experiment was designed to test the value of a solution based on a technological platform. The methodology is based on a dynamic scheme, seeking the involvement and collaboration of all the stakeholders. This method uses a co-creative process inspired by design thinking. The theoretical framework included literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems and governance theory and took into account the need to involve all the stakeholders to improve the previous situation and achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the application and an ad-hoc methodology seeking the involvement and collaboration of all stakeholders, a social network supported by an ICT-based platform was formally created, contributing to alleviate the atomization problem and generating social value at the same time. This social experiment, carried out in the Spanish province of Biscay in the Basque Country, was a pilot test and could be extended to other entrepreneurial ecosystems with similar casuistic frameworks.

This paper provides an empirical study to identify the objective of companies that are currently investing in adopting blockchain technologies to improve their processes and services. Unlike other studies based on the theoretical potential application of blockchain technology in different sectors, the main objective of this paper is to analyze real projects and investment of companies in blockchain technology. More than 100 blockchain projects from different sectors were examined with the aim of extracting the perceived applicability and business value of blockchain technology by managers, customers, and partners. We identified the most demanded business value and functional properties in each sector and company size, as well as the relationship between the properties that are demanded together. This article assesses the main functional values attributed to blockchain, highlighting those really appreciated by companies that invest in them and identifying new applications of blockchain technology in different sectors, and generating organizational change. The article reveals that, as expected, significant deviations are already occurring between theoretical applications identified in the literature and those finally adopted by the industry.

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This article examines the differences and features displayed by business angels (BAs), depending on the extent of their involvement with, and support for, the start-ups they finance measured by expertise, experience and contacts. With a sample of 293 Spanish BAs, using data obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey, our results indicate that investors who develop more rigorous screening processes in the pre-investment process and hold regular meetings with founder teams are more likely to become High Value-Added Business Angels (HVBAs). Accordingly, the ability of BAs to transfer so-called ‘smart capital’ is conditioned by the levels of screening and assessment applied at the pre-investment stage in terms of both the quality of projects and founder teams and the extent to which the expectations and profiles of the two parties match.

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