The role of education in the entrepreneurial ecosystem: the case of ‘Made in Italy Tuscany Academy’ in the Florence fashion city

Not withstanding the wide research on entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), the role of education in EE is often overlooked, either in general or in the creative industries domain. Most works, in fact, focus on the education of the professionals who deal with intangibles (such as designers, etc.), while the role of other creative artisans and production experts (modellers, etc.) has not received the appropriate attention. We contribute to the existing debate analysing the ecosystem of a manufacturing fashion city, answering to two main research questions: 1) to what extent does the education of creative artisans matter in a manufacturing fashion city?; 2) how can it contribute nurturing the local EE? We analyse the case study of the Made in Italy Tuscany Academy, a technical higher education school situated in Scandicci (Florence). We study its ego-network in the local EE with the social network analysis through a questionnaire administered to 115 students.