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One of my major research thrusts over the past 40 years – and particularly since the mid-1970s – has been to construct, and regularly update and refine, an eclectic paradigm (EP) which seeks to identify and evaluate the determinants of international business (IB) activity. Within this activity, a range of operationally testable and specific economic and business theories might be accommodated.

This chapter describes the basic elements of an ecosystem of innovation entrepreneurship ecosystem. Likewise, it discusses the building of ecosystems, technological parks, and their relationship with the industrial clusters. Finally, it analyzes the impact of the ecosystems on the regional environment. Additionally, the chapter will include mini cases and business examples.

This chapter aims to enrich knowledge about cluster initiatives acting as intermediaries primarily between members in a cluster or in regional context. This is a practically oriented manuscript written to contribute to refinement of existing policies by proposing recommendations based on recent empirical studies regarding funding, actors’ and activities’ content, as well as cluster initiatives’ assessment. It is proposed that public support should be balanced, targeting new as well as established, well-functioning cluster initiatives. Furthermore, regional authorities should encourage multifaceted collaboration (e.g., Triple Helix), stimulate variation in activities to maximize the benefit of cluster initiatives as well as define and communicate success factors that make it possible to evaluate cluster initiatives from a holistic perspective. These recommendations are primary aimed for regional authorities and reflect a bottom-up perspective where both logic of initiatives’ actions and their development are captured. Yet, even national authorities can make use of the recommendations in this chapter to improve governance of cluster initiatives and to determine further directions of regional policies.

Local natural and cultural resources should be the basic elements to differentiate destinations through innovative products and services, in order to ensure both their competitiveness and sustainability in the long run. This chapter covers a critical literature review on the topics of innovation, differentiation, competitiveness, and sustainability in tourism. A panel data model is developed in order to define regional demand functions for regions in Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, estimating the influence of natural and cultural heritage, innovation, and other “traditional” factors of competitiveness on the attractiveness of tourism destinations.