Capitalization and the start-up economy: Critical perspectives on innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capitalism.
University of Lausanne, 20-21 June 2024.

Loïc Riom (Lausanne) and Tanja Schneider (St-Gallen) are organising a workshop on capitalization and the start-up economy, to be held at the University of Lausanne in June next year. Keynotes include Liliana Doganova, Kean Birch, and Paul Langley.

For the past twenty years, social sciences have studied financialization as a process affecting many (if not almost all) aspects of contemporary societies. More recently, research at the crossroads of sociology, economics and the science and technology studies (STS) developed a new understanding of financialization, centered on how “things are turned into assets” (Birch and Muniesa 2020). Such a perspective provides useful tools for critically examining the start-up economy and emerging business practices related to venture capital funding. This workshop aims to bring together scholars from science and technology studies and beyond who work to develop a transversal perspective across various cultural sites and practices. Through different formats (keynote, round table, panels), the workshop will offer a setting to conduct in-depth discussions on capitalization.