Welcome to ‘The Startup State’ - a weekly bulletin from the GEN Policy and Research team highlighting key entrepreneurship announcements, reports, commentary and features from around the world.
News
- Egypt has appointed Mohamed Farid Saleh, a capital markets reformer best known for reshaping Egypt's fintech and non-banking financial landscape, as minister of investment and foreign trade. His elevation comes at a time when Egypt is under pressure to restore investor confidence, attract foreign capital, and modernize the economy (LaunchBaseAfrica)
- India aims to attract more than $200bn in investment from artificial intelligence infrastructure by 2028, positioning itself as a global hub for AI computing and applications. To support the push, the government is offering tax incentives, state-backed venture capital, and regulatory support to attract a larger share of the global AI supply chain (Tech Funding News)
- Ireland has published a national digital & AI strategy, outlining the government's vision to strengthen Ireland's role as a digital leader and AI hub and harness digital and AI technologoes for economic growth, improved public services, and better quality of life (gov.ie)
- Malaysia has activated the 'Government Innovation Initiative', a national undertaking to galvanize innovation across the public sector and advance Malaysia's commitment to achieving 'AI Nation' status by 2030 (TNGlobal)
Comment and analysis
- The venture capital challenge for Europe (Josh Lerner, Jacob H Schiff professor of investment banking, Harvard Business School)
- Munich 2026: A security conference where tech isn't an afterthought (Ana-Maria Stanciuc, editor-in-chief, The Next Web)
- American culture and the decline of the digital spirit: Part two (Robert D Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation)
- Why Canada is walking away from the Canadian Start-up Visa (Chris Erhardt, contributor, FastCompany)
- Why verifying a business in Africa is harder than moving money (Babatune Hammed, global head of operations, Chimoney)
- Is Australia's secondaries market the solution to delayed exits and liquidity pressure? (Angus Killian, Carta)
- European bureaucracy threatens Sweden's AI boom, say startups (Orlando Crowrfot, Euro News)
- Miami and the Florida startup ecosystem (Paul O'Brien, writer, Startup Economist)
- University dropouts will be the key to European tech success (Saaras Mehan, CTO and co-founder, Jack & Jill)
- Digital nomads: Africa enters the golden passport market as the world tightens rules (Emmanuel Nwosu, TechCabal)
Features
- The funding desert: Why Algerian startups are being pushed towards the public markets (LaunchBaseAfrica)
- Three startups rise above crisis to transform Lebanon's economy (Wired)
- Startup for all: Korea is testing a new model where startup policy, media and private capital move together (Korea Tech Desk)
- Startups in Britain turn to AI instead of costly new hires (Insurance Journal)
- From repression to relocation: How Belarusian founders are powering Poland's next tech boom (tech.eu)
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The opinions expressed in the articles above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Global Entrepreneurship Network.