Returnees, Institutions, and Networks; Making Space for Technology Entrepreneurship in Beirut

Abstract

This article explores the development of Beirut’s innovation ecosystem in the context of its social composition, complementing popular narratives of informal power in Lebanon. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article explores the extensions of existing institutions and practices—how universities, banks, and diaspora returnees collaboratively developed a context for venture development. By focusing on diaspora returnee expertise as a key driver for innovation ecosystem founding, the article also qualifies a key element of Lebanese economic development—the loops of emigration and return immigration of Lebanese people and the resulting economic and managerial cosmopolitanism inherent in their involvement in their country’s commercial and financial settings. The emergent innovation ecosystem is a function of existing Lebanese cultural and organisational tendencies.