RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

386 RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
As also established in the global project (REINVEST), these two aspects are core shapers of
industry and the best practices from industry can be replicated to future start-ups. However,
in true alignment with the literature findings, the results of this study also show a great percentage
of neutral/indecisive responds in relation to this topic which is primarily driven by
the infancy stage of the quintuple helix model (meaning thus lack of awareness and access
to information for the involved parties). Nevertheless, a core implication of this gap resides
also in the perceptions of the respondents related to their skills in the area of responsible
entrepreneurship – in the sense that by not having a proper/clear view over this topic, the
perceived skills that they possess might not be the actual skills required to properly implement
responsible entrepreneurship in a quintuple helix co-creation environment. Finally, given
this bias, another limitation that may hinder the validity of the findings resides in the low
number of respondents across a wide geographic span. Future research should focus on
local/regional areas in an in-depth approach towards unveiling the coherence of the
local/regional quintuple helix context that drives the overall growth.
Conclusion
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. In order to ensure the long-term sustainable development visions
of nowadays society a quintuple helix co-creation approach where university, industry, government,
society and the environment are core players of socially and environmentally responsible
growth is required. Considering the infancy of this concept, 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 influence by a general lack of information
and skills of the respondents in this area. The contribution of this paper is relevant especially
for policy practitioners as well as for responsible entrepreneurs which need to be updated
to these modern requirements of sustainable development and which must ensure a proper
dialog with all stakeholders towards ensuring mutual co-evolution. Academically, this paper
sustains the important of the quintuple helix eco-innovation model. Future research in this
highly necessary area should focus on researching these elements in a more regionally/locally
focused environment as well as should consider how responsible models from exiting industries
can be replicated to future responsible start-ups.
Acknowledgements
Parts of this research have been made available through the EUROPEAID funded project
(REINVEST) in terms of ensuring the project’s impact by providing means of best practice
replication from REINVEST to other domains/sectors across the EU. This publication/
com munication represents only the views of the authors and the EU Commission cannot be