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.
This is a special issue to catch up on announcements from August.
News
- Cambodia has launched a National Strategy on Startup Development 2026–2030, presided over by Deputy PM Aun Pornmoniroth, to expand seed funding, mentorship, and acceleration support through bodies like Khmer Enterprise and Techo Startup Center (Khmer Times).
- The United States hosted G20 innovation ministers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, concluding with a consensus statement and new "Carolina Principles" on pro-innovation policy, workforce development, and AI standards (The White House).
- The United Kingdom launched a Global Network Programme giving businesses access to FCDO diplomatic expertise to support international trade and market expansion (GOV.UK).
- Azerbaijan announced new state support measures for entrepreneurs, including export transport/customs cost compensation, loan-interest subsidies, and state guarantees, unveiled in the Lankaran-Astara economic region (Trend.Az).
- Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed amendments to the Industrial Innovation Statute giving startups new perks, including doubling the tax-deferred cap on stock options (Taipei Times).
- Germany's government opened a dialogue on building a "new era of entrepreneurship" in eastern Germany, with the stated goal of seeing a future DAX-listed company emerge from the region (Yahoo Finance).
- Bangladesh launched a Tk 4 billion ($32.5m) Fund of Funds to channel local, international, and development capital into professionally managed venture funds for its startup ecosystem (The Financial Express).
- South Korea launched its first government-backed Global Founder Support Program and K-Founder Fund, backing Korean entrepreneurs abroad with mentors, incubation, and over KRW 100 billion ($74m) in capital (WOWTALE).
- Japan established a new Cabinet Office unit to connect startups with government ministries for pilot contracts across 17 strategic fields, including AI and drones (Việt Nam News).
- Romania approved a EUR 100 million ($116m) "Diaspora Investește Acasă" programme offering grants and loans to Romanians living abroad who invest in businesses at home (Business Review).
- Mozambique overhauled its business start-up and licensing system, cutting approval times to as little as one business day under new decrees published July 27 (Club of Mozambique).
Comment and analysis
- Most accelerators make startups worse. What do the good ones do? (Steve Beyatte, writer, The Next Web)
- Can EU Inc. survive Europe's political divisions? (Ana Marija Kostanic, editor-in-chief, and Teodora Atanasova, senior editor, The Recursive)
- What Canada can learn from the world's leading nations on business formation (Charles Lammam, economic and policy professional, The Hub)
- Your high school friends may shape whether you become an entrepreneur decades later (Seok-Woo Kwon, professor, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary)
- The Gold Rush ended, but its entrepreneurial legacy didn't, study finds (Jacey Yarbrough, UT News, University of Texas at Austin)
- Africa's AI challenge is not technology. It is ecosystem building (Roger Jantio, founder and CEO, Sterling Merchant Finance)
- Korea's global startup push faces a 24-month measurement gap (Chloe Kim, KoreaTechDesk)
- New Zealand's tech sector is worth $110 billion – but keeping that value at home is a struggle (Rod McNaughton, professor of entrepreneurship, University of Auckland)
- Australia's innovation story isn't broken – we're just telling it wrong (Gillian Woodhouse, founder, Life Sciences Advisory)
- While Washington dithers, Asia is writing the rules for fintech (Adrian Wall, International Policy Digest)
- The UK wants more high-growth startups, but do founders still want to build in Britain? (Gina Marrs, TechRound)
- Why Cambodia is rewriting its startup playbook as regional venture capital shrinks (Tech Collective)
Features and ecosystem insights
- Israel's quantum leap: building a national hub for the next tech revolution — interview (The Jerusalem Post)
- New digital platform maps Kenya's innovation and startup ecosystem (IT News Africa)
- Can Scotland close the scale-up gap with existing funding? (Digit.fyi)
- Czech Startup Association pushes Prague parties to prioritize startups (The Recursive)
- Ireland urged to unlock €1 billion for startups with Denmark-style capital push (EU-Startups)
- Beyond Silicon Savannah: the rise of innovation beyond Nairobi (Capital FM Kenya)
- Calgary's tech sector sees North America's highest growth 3 years and counting (Global News)
- Slovakia: where fintech meets an industrial economy (The Fintech Times)
- One product, four regulatory paths: the reality of fintech expansion in Latin America (KoreaTechDesk)
- A study in uncertainty: how moving goalposts are freezing Francophone West Africa's fintech scene (Launch Base Africa)
- Startup Bangladesh's first portfolio exit comes as PulseTech scales and prepares for Series A (AsiaTechDaily)
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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.