Building Entrepreneurial Mindsets Across Regions: From Human Capital to Global Competitiveness

Abstract

This chapter examines how entrepreneurial mindsets can serve as a bridge between human capital development and global competitiveness, particularly across regions facing unequal access to opportunity, investment, and innovation. Rather than treating entrepreneurship as a narrow act of business creation, the chapter frames it as a broader way of thinking: a capacity to recognize possibilities, respond to uncertainty, mobilize resources, and transform local challenges into productive action. It explores the role of education, policy, regional ecosystems, and strategic investment in cultivating entrepreneurial behavior that is socially grounded and economically meaningful. Special attention is given to the tension between global competitiveness and balanced development, arguing that regions cannot become truly competitive by copying dominant economic models alone. They must build entrepreneurial cultures that reflect local strengths, human aspirations, and long-term sustainability.