We are pleased to announce that on 23 November 2020, Malasree Neepa Acharya successfully defended her PhD thesis on ‘Anchoring Circulation of India’s Diaspora Entrepreneurs: Creating Cosmopolitan Home and Work Lifeworlds in Bangalore’s Interconnected Entrepreneurial Ecosystem’! Neepa's co-promotors were Prof. Dr. Ilke Adam (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Prof. Dr. Alison Woodward (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The jury was chaired by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Oberthür (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and consisted of Prof. Dr. Jamal Shahin (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Prof. Dr. Roger Noll (Stanford University, USA), and Prof. Dr. Noelle Brigden (Marquette University, USA). Our warmest congratulations to Dr. Acharya!
Below you can read more about the PhD thesis of Malasree Neepa Acharya.
Abstract
The dissertation asks the research questions, why are diaspora entrepreneurs of Indian origin returning to the technological hub city of Bangalore and how are they creating an impact in the city. The dissertation makes the central argument that entrepreneurs of Indian origin return to Bangalore to anchor circulation in their newly created cosmopolitan home and work life worlds. Using mixed-method, multi-site, and repeat fieldwork carried out from 2010-2016, the dissertation investigates how the entrepreneurs’ ability to create their cosmopolitan home and work worlds within the city is anchored by their circulation between technological hub cities, including Silicon Valley, United States, and emerging hubs like London, England. As agents of their own global imaginaries and visions of home, these entrepreneurs build upon their networks to impact infrastructures and social relations in the city. They create ‘technoburb’ entrepreneurial communities in the gated communities where they reside, and build Bangalore’s business environment into an interconnected entrepreneurial ecosystem. This dissertation proposes that the entrepreneurial ecology of technological innovation unfolds in a landscape of mobility across hubs. Silicon Valley and London are integral to the explosion of Bangalore as a major global site of technological innovation. Circulatory movement and its anchoring by the diaspora entrepreneurs of Indian origin impacting the city has wide-reaching implications for business, policy and development in the Global South.
Keywords: International Migration, Circulation, Diaspora, Cosmopolitanism, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Technological Hubs, Global South, Mobility and Innovation Policy Bangalore?