Iranian Research Organisation for Science and Technology Journal of Technology Development Management 2008-5060 13 2 2025 08 23 Identifying the Conceptual Framework of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (The Case of Sharif University of Technology) Identifying the Conceptual Framework of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (The Case of Sharif University of Technology) 115 146 1715 10.22104/jtdm.2026.7211.3375 FA Mohammad Ali Moradi Entrepreneurship Development Department, Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran 0000-0003-2646-9985 Shahab Dadgarnejad Adjunct professor of the faculty of the Faculty of Management, University of Tehran Bahare Yaghoubi Second Master's student in Germany Journal Article 2024 11 30 The entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective has become an influential approach to entrepreneurship development, assigning universities a central role in knowledge creation, transfer, and commercialization. However, existing studies mainly emphasize ecosystem actors and internal components while paying limited attention to interactions across macro and international levels. This study develops a multi-level conceptual framework for the university entrepreneurial ecosystem by integrating theoretical literature with qualitative evidence from Sharif University of Technology. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 entrepreneurs and experts using purposive and snowball sampling and analyzed through three-stage coding. The findings propose a co-evolutionary framework that explains structural relationships among four interconnected levels: international, macro, meso, and micro. Rather than merely identifying ecosystem components, the framework illustrates how dynamic interactions among policies, institutions, intermediary organizations, and entrepreneurial actors shape ecosystem development through continuous feedback mechanisms. The study further highlights the influence of public policies, institutional quality, international scientific collaboration, knowledge flows, brain drain, and economic sanctions alongside university-level factors. Its principal contribution is the development of a theoretically integrated and empirically validated multi-level framework that extends existing ecosystem research and provides a practical foundation for analyzing and designing university entrepreneurship policies in Iran and comparable contexts. The entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective has become an influential approach to entrepreneurship development, assigning universities a central role in knowledge creation, transfer, and commercialization. However, existing studies mainly emphasize ecosystem actors and internal components while paying limited attention to interactions across macro and international levels. This study develops a multi-level conceptual framework for the university entrepreneurial ecosystem by integrating theoretical literature with qualitative evidence from Sharif University of Technology. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 entrepreneurs and experts using purposive and snowball sampling and analyzed through three-stage coding. The findings propose a co-evolutionary framework that explains structural relationships among four interconnected levels: international, macro, meso, and micro. Rather than merely identifying ecosystem components, the framework illustrates how dynamic interactions among policies, institutions, intermediary organizations, and entrepreneurial actors shape ecosystem development through continuous feedback mechanisms. The study further highlights the influence of public policies, institutional quality, international scientific collaboration, knowledge flows, brain drain, and economic sanctions alongside university-level factors. Its principal contribution is the development of a theoretically integrated and empirically validated multi-level framework that extends existing ecosystem research and provides a practical foundation for analyzing and designing university entrepreneurship policies in Iran and comparable contexts. https://jtdm.irost.ir/article_1715_0efbe98067c6c73dba1250d2beaa81f9.pdf