Entrepreneurial knowledge spillovers: discovering opportunities through understanding mediated spatial relationships

Analyzing the KSs that sustain the growth of the start-up with a collaborative approach, the Geppetto case study concerns the main dyadic relationships developed by an Italian start- up thanks to its relationship with an Incubator. As these findings demonstrate, network entrepreneurial KSs are activated by “generating relationship” between the Incubator and its main business partners, which then are used in the “recipient relationship”. In this latter instance, the business partners of the Incubator become partners of the start-up thereby improving its growth. In particular this transfer of knowledge occurs in a relational space between heterogeneous actors that are characterized by business relational proximity.