The Role of Stakeholders in Sustainable Food Tech Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A Case Study of Ecorobotix

Entrepreneurial ecosystem research explains how institutional and resource conditions support productive entrepreneurship, but it has not systematically and explicitly incorporated sustainability. This gap is especially relevant in sustainable food tech, where entrepreneurial activity is shaped by ecological goals, regulation, legitimacy, and broad stakeholder involvement. Building on stakeholder theory, this paper investigates whether sustainability may act as a systemic modifier of entrepreneurial ecosystems through stakeholder relationships. Using a theory elaborating qualitative single-case design, the study examines Ecorobotix, a Swiss firm operating in precision agriculture within the broader agrifood system. Based on secondary data, the analysis provides a first exploratory mapping of how sustainability appears to influence the relational logic of the ten ecosystem components identified by Stam and van de Ven (2021). More specifically, the case suggests that sustainability may broaden the relevant stakeholder base, diversify the forms of value exchanged, and reshape how ecosystem components interact. The paper contributes to entrepreneurial ecosystem research by proposing a sustainability-oriented extension of the ten component model, to sustainable entrepreneurship research by offering a more systematic ecosystem-level interpretation of sustainability, and to stakeholder theory by applying it beyond the firm level to the ecosystem as a whole. Given the exploratory nature of the study, the findings should be understood as a first analytical step and a foundation for future interview-based inquiry.