The last few decades have seen East Asian governments provide increasing support for startups—new, high-growth, technologically oriented firms. This “startup capitalism”—an economic and political system in which startups contribute to employment, innovation, and growth—can take multiple forms. Startups can be envisaged as disruptors, as engines for catalysing new industries and technologies, or as resources for large incumbent firms. In Schumpeterian logic, startups can foster creative destruction, or they can fuel oligopolistic competition. This talk explores how and why startup policies vary across China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. It emphasizes how the Taiwanese government approach has tended to conceive of startups for their ability to foster new technologies, such as biotech and greentech, rather than as boosters for established sectors. This is distinct from the Japanese and Korean approach, which has often worked to embed startups in open innovation systems led by big business. The talk will explore the ways in which the different approaches to startup capitalism reflect each locale’s institutional logics.
About the Speakers
Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra is Vice Dean, Global Engagement, and Reader in Political Economy & Entrepreneurship at King’s Business School, King’s College London. She is the author of The Venture Capital State: The Silicon Valley Model in East Asia (Cornell University Press, 2018), Inclusive Innovation (with Alex Glennie and Courtney Savie Lawrence, Routledge, 2022), and Startup Capitalism: New Approaches to Innovation Strategies in East Asia (with Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Cornell University Press, 2025). Her research focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation, and venture capital and has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including International Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, New Political Economy, Regulation & Governance, Socio-Economic Review, and World Development. Robyn obtained her BA in Political Science at the University of Michigan and her MSc and PhD in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Professor Ramon Pacheco Pardo is Professor of International Relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance. He also serves as Adjunct Fellow with the Korea Chair at CSIS and on advisory committees for organisations including the Jeju Forum and the Reset Korea Campaign. His publications include North Korea: Survival of a Political Dynasty (Agenda Publishing, 2024), Korea: A New History of South & North (Yale University Press, 2023; with Victor Cha), South Korea’s Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny (Columbia University Press, 2023), Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2022), and North Korea-US Relations from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un (Routledge, 2019). Prof Pacheco Pardo has participated in international dialogues, testified before the European Parliament, and advised NATO, the OECD, and several governments. He is also a columnist for JoongAng Ilbo and a media commentator on East Asia and Europe-Indo-Pacific relations.
Dr Bo-jiun Jing, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, will be hosting the event.
