Supervisors: Helle Neergaard & Nicole Siebold
Discussants: Anne Peschel & Alice Grønhøj

Abstract
In my PhD project, I argue that inclusivity in entrepreneurial ecosystems is not simply about adding different people to an existing ecosystem. It is also about examining and redesigning the conditions that produce entrepreneurial subjects and practices in the first place. My presentation will mainly include insights from my first paper, which is currently under review, as well as preliminary findings from my second study. 

Paper 1: Our aim is to provide insights into how a relational ontology can be used in entrepreneurship education to engage learners in a state of entanglement and, through this, learn about inclusivity in an embodied way. Therefore, we use board game design as a method to experience inclusivity in entrepreneurship as a relational and entangled practice. The board game served as a playful, transitional space, allowing participants’ inner experiences to meet the external world. We draw on Haraway’s work on entanglement as a relational-ontological foundation to emphasize that humans do not exist in isolation. Haraway’s “tentacle” metaphor helped us describe how participants acted on their entanglement and learned through it. We found that learning is not disembodied and purely rational but an emotional practice that happens through friction and connections. 

Paper 2: Dominant approaches to inclusivity in the tech industry have been limited by their focus on minority individuals, who are urged to fit into a highly individualized and competitive system. Based on fieldwork with an organization in Denmark that aims to transform the tech industry through values such as care, collaboration, and community, we examine how inclusivity can be reimagined as a relational, community-based practice. 

Everyone is welcome!