  This paper explores the role of local knowledge spillover and human capital
as a driver of crowdfunding investment. The role of territory has already been
studied in terms of campaign success, but the impact of territory on the use of
financial sources like equity crowdfunding is not yet known. Using a sample of
435 equity crowdfunding campaigns in 20 Italian regions during a 4-year period
(from 2016 to 2019), this paper evaluates the impact of human capital flow on
the adoption of crowdfunding campaigns. Our results show that inbound knowledge
in the region, measured in terms of ability to attract national and
international students, has a significant effect on the adoption of
crowdfunding campaigns in the region itself.
