The article discusses the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach and its implications for regional policy. It highlights the shift from increasing the quantity of entrepreneurship to focusing on the quality of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the role of ambitious entrepreneurs in driving economic growth. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach is presented as a new framework that integrates the entrepreneurial actor with the context of productive entrepreneurship. However, the article critiques the approach for its limited causal depth and evidence base, suggesting that it lacks a clear understanding of the fundamental causes of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The article reviews the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature, identifying its shortcomings and proposing a novel synthesis. It argues that the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach should be complemented with a more rigorous causal scheme that explains how the framework and systemic conditions lead to particular entrepreneurial activities and new value creation. The article also provides a framework for analyzing the interactions within the ecosystem, offering a more robust starting point for future research and policy development. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach is distinguished by its focus on the entrepreneurial individual rather than the enterprise, and its emphasis on the role of the entrepreneurship context. It is argued that the approach has the potential to address the shortcomings of the market failure and system failure approaches, and is particularly applicable to the policy of ambitious entrepreneurship. However, the article notes that the approach is not yet fully developed and requires further refinement to provide a clear understanding of the causal mechanisms that drive entrepreneurial ecosystems. The article concludes that the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach offers a valuable framework for understanding the performance of regional economies, emphasizing interdependencies within the entrepreneurship context and providing a bottom-up analysis of regional economic performance. It also highlights the shift in entrepreneurship policy from focusing on the quantity of entrepreneurship to the quality of entrepreneurship, and suggests that the next step in policy development would be to focus on creating an entrepreneurial regional economy. The article calls for a constructive synthesis of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach with existing empirical studies on entrepreneurship and regional economic development to provide a more comprehensive framework for regional policy.The article discusses the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach and its implications for regional policy. It highlights the shift from increasing the quantity of entrepreneurship to focusing on the quality of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the role of ambitious entrepreneurs in driving economic growth. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach is presented as a new framework that integrates the entrepreneurial actor with the context of productive entrepreneurship. However, the article critiques the approach for its limited causal depth and evidence base, suggesting that it lacks a clear understanding of the fundamental causes of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The article reviews the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature, identifying its shortcomings and proposing a novel synthesis. It argues that the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach should be complemented with a more rigorous causal scheme that explains how the framework and systemic conditions lead to particular entrepreneurial activities and new value creation. The article also provides a framework for analyzing the interactions within the ecosystem, offering a more robust starting point for future research and policy development. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach is distinguished by its focus on the entrepreneurial individual rather than the enterprise, and its emphasis on the role of the entrepreneurship context. It is argued that the approach has the potential to address the shortcomings of the market failure and system failure approaches, and is particularly applicable to the policy of ambitious entrepreneurship. However, the article notes that the approach is not yet fully developed and requires further refinement to provide a clear understanding of the causal mechanisms that drive entrepreneurial ecosystems. The article concludes that the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach offers a valuable framework for understanding the performance of regional economies, emphasizing interdependencies within the entrepreneurship context and providing a bottom-up analysis of regional economic performance. It also highlights the shift in entrepreneurship policy from focusing on the quantity of entrepreneurship to the quality of entrepreneurship, and suggests that the next step in policy development would be to focus on creating an entrepreneurial regional economy. The article calls for a constructive synthesis of the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach with existing empirical studies on entrepreneurship and regional economic development to provide a more comprehensive framework for regional policy.