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.
GEN Atlas insights
The GEN Atlas is the world’s largest entrepreneurship policy compendium, featuring over 350 case studies from 70 countries. This week, our GEN Atlas Spotlight deep dives on policies that underpin Australia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Read the spotlight here
News
- Japan is considering easing the requirements for foreign entrepreneurs to obtain residency. The Immigration Services Agency plans to allow foreign nationals to stay in Japan for two years as a preparation period for starting a business if they have certified business plans and meet other conditions, even if they do not have capital funds (Japan Times)
- The Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority has launched an AED500 million ($136m) venture capital fund to finance technology startups (Government of Dubai)
- In the run-up to Global Entrepreneurship Week, the President of the United States Joe Biden has issued a proclamation celebrating National Entrepreneurship Month, honoring “the job creators, business owners, and daring innovators who remind us of the promise of the American Dream” (White House)
- Turkey is preparing new legislation covering crypto-assets in an effort to remove itself from The Financial Action Task Force “grey list” of countries that have taken insufficient action to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing (Reuters)
AI
- Key announcements this week:
- 28 countries including the UK, US, EU, and China have reached a world-first agreement at Bletchley Park establishing a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by frontier AI and the need for governments to work together to meet the most significant challenges (UK Government)
- President Biden issued a landmark Executive Order “to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence” (White House)
- United States Vice President Kalama Harris announced the US AI Safety Institute (US AISA), draft policy guidance on US government use of AI, a political declaration on the responsible military use of AI and autonomy, and a new funders initiative to advance AI in the public interest (White House)
- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced The AI Safety Institute, which will work with the US AISA and other “like-minded” governments to test eight leading tech companies’ AI models before they are released (UK Government)
- Read the Chair’s summary of the AI Safety Summit 2023, Bletchley Park (UK Government)
- Coverage
Research & analysis
- Developing entrepreneurial ecosystems for digital businesses and beyond: A diagnostic toolkit
This World Bank toolkit provides practical resources for conducting entrepreneurial ecosystem assessments. It includes a framework, guidelines, and useful tools for performing diagnostics to underpin policies supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems. The conceptual framework helps analysts, practitioners, and policymakers organize the flow of relevant information when assessing how policy can best ignite entrepreneurial forces to harness the potential for economic performance. The toolkit proposes a method for assessing entrepreneurial ecosystems in three stages: (1) context analysis (cross-country benchmarking and local entrepreneurial ecosystems); (2) mapping of public programs, regulations, and intermediary organizations supporting entrepreneurship; and (3) policy options for enhancing ecosystems.
- Digital hotspots: Developing digital economies in a context of fragility, conflict and violence
In recent years, it has become widely recognized that the adoption of digital technologies “can’’ make a significant contribution to poverty reduction and socio-economic development in countries and regions around the globe, both FCV and non FCV alike, though it is far from sure that they “will”. This World Bank report provides an analytical backbone to underpin financial commitments to growing digital economies in FCV countries. The report presents case studies of countries that are recovering from different levels and stages of conflict, with a view towards identifying needed actions to keep ICT sectors afloat in FCV economies. Specifically, the report provides case studies of the development of the telecom sector in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
- Accelerate to Excel
This year’s annual Female Founders Forum report, published by The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN), takes stock of what progress women entrepreneurs in the UK have made over the past several years since TEN started researching and campaigning on policies to remove obstacles they face in starting and growing a business. Written by Margaret Mitchell, and featuring stories from numerous leading women entrepreneurs, among other things, the report shows how the amount of equity funding for female-led startups remains stubbornly low.
Comment
- Is pouring money into accelerators actually helping the (New Zealand) startup scene? (Shanti Mathias, writer, The Spinoff)
- The promise of entrepreneurial education (Luke Burgis, entrepreneur in residence and assistant clinical professor of practice, Catholic University of America)
- How Valencia’s fast-growing startup ecosystem is thriving (Linnea Ahlgren, senior editor, TNW)
- Halloween special: Regulatory initiatives haunting the startup ecosystem (Allied for Startups)
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