The FRIJ-MFJ is pleased to invite you to the next Lunch Seminar on Japanese Economy and Society.

« A Comparison of ICT Entrepreneurial Ecosystems within Japan: The Role of Place ».

Speaker: Agata Kapturkiewicz (Waseda university)

Moderator: Adrienne Sala (FRIJ-MFJ)

*Thursday June 17th, 2021 / 12:30-14:00 / Online*

The event is open to all.
Registration is required at https://www.mfj.gr.jp/agenda/2021/06/17/agata/ <https://www.mfj.gr.jp/agenda/2021/06/17/agata/>
Log in data will be provided after registration.

*This presentation* discusses how place matters for the development of smaller entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) focused on the Information and Communication Technology startup entrepreneurship, which are developing in a situation when a dominant EE is already present within given national institutional boundaries (here: Japan). Specifically, the study compares the cases of EEs in the Kansai region (focusing on Osaka and Kyoto) and in Fukuoka, which are "in the shadow" of a bigger ecosystem in Tokyo. The data is based on semi-structured interviews and participant observations generated during fieldwork research in 2016-2020, analysed together with a set of archival data. The study confirms the dominant position of Tokyo EE, and establishes how and why the smaller EEs differ both from Tokyo and from each other in their continuing pathways to development.

*Agata Kapturkiewicz *is an Assistant Professor at the School of Commerce, Waseda University, where she is also a faculty member in the Global Management Program, and a member of a research group on Investigating the Mechanisms of Innovation. Her current teaching covers Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Organisation Theory, and Academic Writing. Before moving to Waseda, Agata graduated from the University of Oxford with a DPhil (PhD) in Management from the Saïd Business School, where she also worked as a junior faculty, and an MPhil (Masters) in Modern Japanese Studies from the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies. Agata's main research interests are located at the intersection of entrepreneurship and innovation, and organisation theory. Her doctoral thesis investigated the developmental processes of entrepreneurial ecosystems, based on several cases in Japan and India. She is also interested in the outcomes of entrepreneurship and innovation, and is looking into the topic of economic participation and career pathways in and around startup entrepreneurship.