Welcome to ‘The Startup State’ - a weekly bulletin from the GEN Policy and Research team highlighting key entrepreneurship news, reports, commentary and features from around the world.
We hope you had a wonderful August. This is a bumper issue to catch up on many exciting developments over the last month.
News
- Sierra Leone: Startup Nations member Salima Bah has been appointed as the inaugural minister of communication, technology and innovation and is the country’s youngest-ever cabinet minister (DSTI Sierra Leone)
- Bulgaria: Junior Achievement Bulgaria CEO and host of Global Entrepreneurship Week Bulgaria Milena Stoycheva has been appointed as minister of innovation and growth (Bulgarian Government)
- Thailand: Dr. Krithpaka Boonfueng, the newly appointed executive director of the National Innovation Agency, has set out plans to support 10,000 new innovation-based enterprises within four years (Banghok Post)
- New Zealand: GEN New Zealand has published an Entrepreneurship Manifesto in the run-up to the country’s general election next month (GEN New Zealand)
- Nigeria: Nigerian-British entrepreneur Bosun Tijani has been appointed as minister of communications, innovations and digital economy and has announced $500m funding to boost the digital economy and invited AI researchers to help draft Nigeria’s AI strategy
- South Korea: The minister of SMEs and startups Lee Young has announced ‘Startup Korea’ - a comprehensive startup support strategy that encompasses visa reform, a global scouting program, investment in Korean startups overseas, a $1.5bn USD Startup Korea Fund, regional angel investment hubs, support for military, youth and researchers, and more (MSS)
- Japan: Japan plans to expand employee stock options to freelance developers and other startup consultants (Nikkei Asia)
- India: The principal scientific advisor to the Government of India has published the draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy for public consultation (PSA)
- St Kitts & Nevis: The Caribbean Commonwealth country has launched a new Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Loop News)
Research & analysis
- Accelerating NSW: The impact of coworking spaces, accelerators, incubators, and startup hubs
GEN Research members Jarrod Ormiston (UTS) and Chad Renando (GEN Australia) are among the authors of a new NSW Innovation and Productivity Council report that comprehensively maps the Australian state’s business support ecosystem. - Innovative Korea: Leveraging innovation and technology for development
This World Bank report summarizes the sources of Korea’s remarkable growth and the policies and institutional reforms that made it possible. - Reaching the potential for the digital economy in Africa: Digital tools for better governance
This World Bank report examines the progress and challenges in streamlining the provision of government services including those relating to taxation and business and land registration, one-stop shops, digital identification systems, and interoperability between systems. It also examines the adoption of electronic government procurement, as well as the procurement of IT systems by governments. The report concludes with recommendations for reaching the potential for the use of digital tools for better governance in Africa. - Uzbekistan’s ecosystem for technology startups
This Asian Development Bank report explores Uzbekistan’s nascent technology startup ecosystem, outlines hurdles entrepreneurs face to turn ideas into viable businesses, and offers practical ways to create the environment they need to thrive.
Comment
- Forget Washington - US states drive tech policy (Hillary Brill, founder, HTB Strategies and senior Fellow, Georgetown Law’s Institute for Tech Policy & Law)
- Rethinking growth and revisiting the entrepreneurial state (Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the economics of innovation and public value, University College London)
- Stifled at home, Tunisian tech finds success in the West (Damilare Dosunmu, reporter, Rest of World)
- India’s angel tax: A curious case of burdening entrepreneurship (Tejaswini Kaushal, student, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University)
- Scotland can be a startup nation (Mark Logan, chief entrepreneurial advisor, Scottish Government)
- Can you hear us? Voices from informal businesses (Taylor Boyce and Charlotte Nan Jiang, World Bank)
Features
- TechCabal: Francophone’s startup ecosystems wish to rival Africa’s big four
- BusinessDay: Promoting digital skills to boost employment through NITDA
Nigeria’s BusinessDay feature on Startup Nations member Kashifu Abdullahi, director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency.
To suggest content for inclusion in future editions of 'The Startup State', please email matt@genglobal.org.
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