A first stylized fact that has become clear from international research is that cultural aspects and social capital matter for (regional) economic growth. Second, even within narrowly defined sectors and regions, there exists large heterogeneity between firms and firm responses to economic shocks (large firms co-exist with small ones, domestically oriented firms co-exist with export oriented ones, etc.). And third, economic activity is regionally clustered (which is the result of agglomeration and dispersion forces). Yet, despite its relevance, regional data for Flanders, but also for other comparable regions, capturing these regularities is often lacking or collected in a highly dispersed manner.

Against this backdrop the research program in Entrepreneurship and Regional Economy will fill this gap.