RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

Quintuple Helix co-creation as a pillar for responsible
(environmentally and socially) entrepreneurship
Panayiotis KETIKIDIS 1 , Adrian SOLOMON 2 ,
Felicia SIAVALAS 3 , Elsa BOTA 4
1,3,4
The University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College
2
South East European Research Centre
2
asolomon@seerc.org
Abstract: Success in the global competition is heavily dependent on the ability of the economy to produce
innovative enterprises with high growth potential that can give stimulus to the actors of the socio-economic
environment; can stabilize the labour market; can strengthen the small and medium size enterprise
sector and can creatively work with all the actors that build up a future-oriented society. Creating a common
framework and a unified entrepreneurial ecosystem requires a core engine of open innovation and cocreation
among all the involved stakeholders in order for the inequality among regions to be decreased. More
specifically, such co-creation and open innovation to foster proper entrepreneurial ecosystems has been
achieved, traditionally, through boosting triple helix (university, industry, government) interactions within
regions. However, in order to ensure the long-term sustainable development visions of nowadays society,
there is much more situational depth to be considered. To this end the triple helix co-creation has been broadened
towards becoming a quintuple helix co-creation where university, industry, government, society and
the environment are core players that will ensure socially and environmentally responsible growth. In this
context. this paper investigates the perceptions, intentions and related knowledge of responsible start-ups in
relation to the quintuple helix approach. The results (n=20) show a strong interest and understanding of the
necessity of the quintuple helix co-creation for properly enabling responsible (environmentally and socially)
entrepreneurship, however, the results are influenced by a general lack of information and skills of the respondents
in this area.
Keywords: quintuple helix, society, environment, entrepreneurship, co-creation
Introduction
Higher education institutions (HEI) must be able to produce independent, creative, entre -
preneurial individuals, who understand inter- and multidisciplinary challenges of the socioeconomic
environment and as a result can contribute to (open) innovation (Burnett, 2010).
Success in the global competition is heavily dependent on the ability of the economy to pro-