- Trial lecture starts at 10.15
- Public defence starts at 12.00
The title of the trial lecture is "To what extent does a ‘strong sustainability’ approach constitute a game changer for the way in which entrepreneurship is studied and practiced? Please take a comparative approach in your assessment"
Assessment committee:
- Associate Professor Lia Tirabeni, University of Milano Bicocca
- Associate Professor Wisdom Kanda, Linköping University
- Associate Professor Stina Torjesen, UiA - head of committee
Supervisors in the doctoral work:
- Professor Andreas Wald, UiA
- Professor Francesca Ricciardi, Universitetet i Torino
Summary of thesis
Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) are often promoted as replicable models of entrepreneurship-led growth. Conceptualizations by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Economic Forum emphasize structured domains such as finance, networks, and culture. However, by privileging success stories from developed regions, these models risk obscuring intangible, relational, and context-specific dynamics that sustain entrepreneurship.
This thesis reconceptualizes EEs as dynamic systems of paradox, where tensions—such as exploration vs. exploitation, differentiation vs. integration, informal trust vs. formal recognition, and growth vs. degrowth—are constitutive rather than dysfunctional. Drawing on studies from Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Indigenous Australia, it foregrounds underexplored contexts and value logics, including sufficiency, that unsettle universalizing models. By integrating paradox theory and interdisciplinary perspectives, it advances a pluralistic and ethically attuned framework that highlights EEs as evolving, contested assemblages generating diverse forms of value.
These insights point to more inclusive, context-sensitive ways of supporting entrepreneurship that embrace complexity and diversity.
What to do as an online audience member
The disputation is open to the public. To follow the trial lecture and the public defence online, register on Zoom.
We ask online audience members to join no earlier than 10 minutes in advance. After these times, you can leave and rejoin the meeting at any time.
Opponent ex auditorio:
Deadline for the public to pose questions is during the break between the two opponents. Questions ex auditorio can be submitted to disputation chair.
Questions?
- gunvor.guttormsen@uia.no
- Phone
- +47 38 14 16 48