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
- The United Kingdom has launched Sovereign AI, a £500m ($678m) public VC fund to back homegrown AI founders to start in Britain, scale fast, and compete globally. Startups will also benefit from access to compute, fast-track visas, and hands-on government support (gov.uk)
- The United States has reauthorized the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Since 1982, the programs, known together as America's Seed Fund, have invested more than $81bn into 34,000 small businesses. Authorization had lapsed as of September 2025, freezing billions of dollars of funding across multiple agencies (ExecutiveGov)
- The Netherlands has launched a consultation on a new definition for startups and scaleups, and a new employee share ownership scheme (PWC)
- Taiwan has announced a $629m funding plan and launched a National Center for AI Robotics as part of its 'Ten AI Initiatives Promotion Plan' to promote AI use and provide the momentum to compete globally (Cryptopolitan)
- The European Union is preparing to loosen merger rules to enable pan-European consolidation and create 'European Champions' that can compete globally (European Business Magazine)
Comment and analysis
- The SBIR restart won't be easy (Zachery Berenson, product manager, Leadership Connect)
- Global startup insights in 2026: Three takeaways for early-stage founders (Andy Tsao, head of global gateway, Silicon Valley Bank summarizes findings from the latest SBV global markets report)
- The great AI talent migration: Why universities are losing the future of innovation (Ufuk Akcigit, Emin Dinlersoz, Craig A Chikis, and Nathan Goldschlag, contributors, VOXEU)
- How to build a successful AI hub (Philip M Parker, professor of marketing, INSEAD)
- If the world needs more entrepreneurs, why aren't more female students choosing that path? (Aleksandra Bavdaz and Rami Al-Sharif, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow)
- Phoenix not copying Silicon Valley is the winning lesson (Paul O'Brien, author, Startup Economist)
Features
- Germany's digital minister wants a European Palantir (Politico)
- Not asking for permission: Inside Africa's $705m startup surge (Africa.com)
- OpenAI proposes a new way to build startups - all in one box (Inc)
- Algerian students increasingly create their own jobs as startup push expands (Ecofin)
- Turkey's tech visa draws 5,000 developers (Daily Sabah)
- 'Drought' in entrepreneurship threatens Canada's competitiveness (Investment Executive)
- The fintech landscape of Brazil in 2026 (The Fintech Times)
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The opinions expressed in the articles above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Global Entrepreneurship Network.