From Silicon Valley to the Levant: Innovation in the Eastern Mediterranean

Market economies in the eastern Mediterranean are not counted among ideal-typical innovators. But this picture may be changing. This article explores the emerging innovation systems in the eastern Mediterranean by examining recent data and the literatures on varieties of capitalism and innovation systems. Through the cases of Cyprus, Israel, and Turkey, the study argues that the varieties of capitalism framework, by focusing on performance at the macro level, disregards the subnational performance of these outlier markets, which have promising regional or local innovation systems. Fostering cooperation among these emerging innovation systems could become a valuable instrument for overcoming deeply rooted conflicts in the eastern Mediterranean, which has turned into a “crisis zone” due to recent energy discoveries.