Author:   Aibek Karimov Affiliation:   Independent Researcher Abstract Innovation increasingly defines the competitive strength of nations, industries, and firms. Yet behind every breakthrough idea, there is a fundamental requirement that determines whether innovation flourishes or fades: financing. Venture capital (VC) has become one of the most prominent and influential mechanisms used worldwide to fund early-stage and high-growth technological innovation. It supports start

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