Investigating Sustainable Business Ecosystems and the University Role: A Cluster Analysis

Abstract This research paper aims to identify the factors, components, and key aspects that significantly contribute to the establishment of a sustainable business ecosystem through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. By analysing prominent publications, we seek to describe coherent strategies with an expected impact. Our objectives encompass exploring trends from both theoretical perspectives, such as predictions by scientists, and empirical perspectives, including figures derived from studies. We outline several secondary objectives that guide our step-by-step approach. Firstly, we identify defining elements of a sustainable business environment based on insights from specialized literature. Secondly, we categorize ecosystems into different types, such as economic, digital, ecological, and entrepreneurial, providing further elaboration later in the paper. Thirdly, we present an updated understanding of the dynamic evolution of ecosystems and their components. This includes examining the influence of digital advancements and digitalization on the business environment, as well as the opportunities and threats they generate. Of particular importance is the role of universities as a significant landmark within the business ecosystem. We discuss the university's involvement in technological and informational transfer to ensure sustainability, focusing on the levers through which universities consolidate and stimulate the business ecosystem. To achieve our objectives, we employ bibliometric analysis, utilizing the VOSviewer software, which offers valuable insights for constructing diagnostic schemes and development models tailored to specific business environment challenges. The research methodology relies on the VOSviewer software for processing academic publication databases. To align with the theme and purpose of this study, we selected the SCOPUS database for its implicit certification of superior academic quality in the publications it contains.