UC Irvine

Silicon Valley is known the world over as an epicenter of technology innovation. As such it is frequently analyzed, compared, and imitated. Accelerators, short-term incubators that foster technology startups, attempt to appropriate many elements of Silicon Valley and apply them in different global contexts. They bring together cohorts of technology startups in various global locations to help them develop their teams and products and learn from and connect with others in the ecosystem in a limited-duration “bootcamp.” Since the initial one was created in 2005, accelerators have expanded rapidly into all corners of the globe with the promise of providing the necessary soft infrastructure for creating technology startups and fostering an ecosystem. But can this ideal type of Silicon Valley be appropriated through emulating its environments, culture, and practices?

To explore this, I conducted an in-depth qualitative study of startup accelerators situated in different locations globally. Much of this research was conducted in situ through ethnographic fieldwork over the several-month courses of accelerator programs in Singapore and Buenos Aires, providing a rich view into the day-to-day workings of these accelerators. This was complemented by foundational research through interviews in Silicon Valley and abroad with a variety of accelerator participants and personnel globally.

This research presents a framework of Silicon Valley as a model ecosystem, consisting of nine major components. It demonstrates the ways in which accelerators attempt to appropriate this model and the isomorphic mechanisms that play a role in this. At the team level, it investigates issues that arise for founders participating in the startup culture of accelerators in different global contexts. And at the practice level, it examines the surprising roles of Lean Startup methods and of pitching in both innovation and social transformation.

This work highlights the interplay of innovation and legitimacy for these accelerators and startups and shows how accelerators are shaping the flow of innovation globally by spreading a model that prioritizes diffusion of innovation at the front end of the process. This has implications for the development of accelerators and innovation ecosystems at the global and local levels.