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
- Australia is considering changes to its proposed capital gains tax overhaul after mounting pressure from startup founders and investors, who say the reforms risk pushing talent and capital offshore (StartupDaily)
- Ireland has unveiled a new €21m ($24m) 'National Accelerator Programme', which is set to be a central pillar of Enterprise Ireland's soon-to-launch Startup Ireland initiative (Irish Independent)
- Cambodia has published a Draft National Strategy of Startup Development that seeks to establish a robust, vibrant, and inclusive new business ecosystem (Khmer Times)
- South Korea is to launch a sovereign wealth fund focused on Series B and later-stage startups in AI and semiconductor technologies (Pulse)
- Ghana is introducing fintech regulation and launching a continental fintech sandbox and national innovation hub as the central bank steps up efforts to position Ghana as a regional digital finance hub (B&FT)
Comment and analysis
- Venture capital is vital. But can it fund the next wave of innovation? (Ilya Strebulaev, founder and director, Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative and Guillaume Hingel, lead, Future of Venture Capital, World Economic Forum)
- From scale to sandbox: Reimagining India's role in global public innovation (Amal Chandra, author, The Essential)
- How our procurement policy perversely works against Canadian startups and innovators (Philip Green, founder and chief science officer, SkyForest Inc and Will Caddell, founder and CEO, SparkGEO)
- Fomo is a poor motivation for EU tech policy (Martin Sandbu, European economics commentator, Financial Times)
- Making 2026 the year AI delivers in Saudi Arabia (Raymond Jhoury, partner and public sector practice lead, Arthur D Little Middle East)
- How repeat entrepreneur relief could strengthen the UK startup ecosystem (Zuleika Salter, partner, Cavendish)
- Your city doesn't have a talent problem. It has an optionality problem (Paul O'Brien, author, Startup Economist)
- West Bengal must create ecosystem where startups flourish (Sumali Moitra, contributor, Deccan Herald)
Features
- Business formations hit all-time high as 'under-employed' Americans turn to side hustles to make ends meet (Fortune)
- Cape Verde bets on tech to reverse postcolonial brain drain (Guardian)
- Cote d'Ivoire is betting big on AI - and facing bigger cyber risks (Ecofin Agency)
- From outsourcing to AI-native delivery: Poland's software evolution (Tech.eu)
- Hungary's tech startups look abroad as domestic headwinds persist (The Recursive)
- The hottest place for startups to strike a deal? The F1 paddock (TechCrunch)
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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.