As Venice transitioned out of the Renaissance, the Republic shifted its focus from the humanities to sciences. All the while, the invention of the printing press allowed ideas to spread fluidly. The Papacy, in an effort to manipulate the dissemination of protestant information, created the index of banned books in the 1550s. Venice continued to print books on the index, showing support for the principles of the knowledge economy.

At the time, Pope Paul V was enraged at Venice's prostitution and gambling industries. The pope issued an edict "reminding" the Venice's religious orders who they serve. As tensions grew with the pope, secularism gained traction in Venice. Fra Paolo Sarpi was a Catholic Monk from Venice who voiced his dissatisfaction with the current state of the church. Sarpi was a strong advocate of Venetian indepency and encouraged monks and nuns to disobey the papacy.Many religious orders left Venice. Those that remain were placed under interdict by the pope.

Sarpi also played an important role in Venice's scientific community. Galileo and Sarpi become friends while Galileo was at the University of Padua. Sarpi, while visiting The Netherlands, caught word of a new invention : Hans Lipperchey's Telescope. He brought this information back to Venice and passed it on to Galileo. Galileo improved upon the concept and continued to make groundbreaking discoveries in the field of astronomy. Sarpi and Galileo also applied for a myriad of patents during a time where the idea of intellectual property was in its infancy.