Innovation is widely recognized as the engine of long-run growth, productivity, and social mobility. Yet many emerging economies struggle to convert ideas into marketable products and services at scale. This article examines the institutional barriers that impede innovation in emerging economies and proposes actionable reforms to unlock inclusive, sustainable growth. Using a theory-informed framework that combines Bourdieu’s forms of capital, world-systems analysis, and insti

Innovation ecosystems—dense networks of firms, universities, investors, policymakers, and intermediaries—have become the default lens for understanding how new ventures are formed, scaled, and embedded in regional and global markets. This paper examines the role of universities in enabling startup growth within such ecosystems. It integrates three theoretical lenses to ground the analysis: Bourdieu’s theory of capital and fields, world-systems theory, and institutional isomor