DECO 22A13 - Startup Nations: Entrepreneurship, Technology and the State

From Silicon Valley’s mythic garages to Singapore’s state-built innovation hubs, nations around the world are racing to cultivate the next generation of startups. Northern California’s dot-com boom of the 1990s reshaped global expectations about entrepreneurship, fueling the idea that a good concept, a laptop, and the Internet were enough to launch a world-changing company. This “Silicon Valley Ideology” promised a frictionless, meritocratic tech sector where networks would flatten hierarchies and open doors. Yet the American model—dominated by private capital, lightly regulated, and globally influential—has also produced stark patterns in who gets funded, who gets to innovate, and which ideas thrive.

Other countries have taken a different path. State-led models in China, France’s self-declared “Startup Nation,” and even Russia’s strategic use of digital technology show how governments shape tech ecosystems, regulate entrepreneurial risk, and define what “innovation” means in very different ways. Do stronger public institutions expand who can participate in entrepreneurship— or constrain it? How do policies around education, funding, equity laws, and social protection reshape who gets to start companies and how technologies take root?

This course investigates how tech ecosystems are built, how they differ across regions and political systems, and how governments, markets, and culture interact to produce distinctive startup landscapes. We will explore global case studies, from venture-capital power corridors to state-backed accelerators, from policy sandboxes to national industrial strategies. Drawing on economic sociology, political sociology, and research on innovation, students will analyze how ideologies, institutions, and infrastructures influence entrepreneurial possibilities.

At the end of the course, the student is expected to : 1°) Analyze how different political, economic, and cultural contexts shape national startup ecosystems. 2°) Evaluate the roles of the state, markets, and institutions in supporting or constraining entrepreneurial activity. 3°) Compare global models of innovation and apply sociological theories to contemporary case studies of tech development.

The course combines short lectures with guided discussions in-class to keep the workload manageable. Students will also participate in small-group activities and structured peer-feedback sessions designed to strengthen their writing and support the gradual development of their independent project over the semester.

To validate the course, the student is expected to pass the following assignments (at least three grades):

• Short reading responses – Three times during the semester, you will complete a short online reading response: add five separate annotation sentences directly on the assigned reading using our course’s online annotation tool. These are brief, low-stakes comments meant only to show engagement – 20%
• Group feedback writing – In a small group, you will prepare a brief written critique (about one page) of an assigned article or chapter from the syllabus. Your group will then give a short in-class presentation (15 minutes) summarizing your key points – 35%
• Your Startup Nation Final Project – For the final project, you will choose one country and analyze how its government supports or regulates startups. The final paper is three pages, drawing on government, academic, and tech eco-system sources. This is a concise research assignment intended to synthesize course themes – 35%
• Class Participation 10%