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.
News
- South Africa-based Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship, alongside Utrecht University and Innovation for Policy Foundation used last week’s GEC+Africa to launch the inaugural African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index - a new measure of the quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems on the African continent (Index | press release)
- Saudi Arabia is creating a $40bn fund to invest in artificial intelligence, potentially becoming the largest player in the hot market (NY Times)
- Japan plans to grant up to five years residency for angel investors, in a bid to bring in much-needed investment for the country’s startups (Nikkei Asia)
- The Inter-American Development Bank and TechnoArt are launching Miami LAC Gateway to support Latin American and Caribbean companies that want to scale in the U.S. (IDB)
- The United Nations General Assembly has unanimously adopted the first global resolution on artificial intelligence that encourages countries to safeguard human rights, protect personal data, and monitor AI for risks (UN)
Research & analysis
- Mapping Poland’s tech sector: A network analysis of the entrepreneurship community
This Endeavor report studies Poland’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, providing insights on the current state, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses, and enabling decision makers to better understand and support local tech entrepreneurship. - K-content goes global: How government support and copyright policy fuelled the Republic of Korea’s creative economy
This UNCTAD report delves into South Korea’s content-based industry with a view to better understanding the factors of its success and the role of the government’s policy to support the industry as a new engine of growth. - State of women’s entrepreneurship in Canada 2024 report: Preliminary findings
This Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub annual report shows that women entrepreneurs are benefiting from Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy and that women business ownership is holding steady. Government press release - Entrepreneurship, startups, and business formation are booming across the U.S.
This American Progress article examines U.S. Census Bureau data that show skyrocketing applications for new businesses, numbers of startups, and total number of businesses.
Comment
- The challenges and opportunities with Ethiopia’s digital transformation (Belete Molla Getahun, minister of innovation and technology, Ethiopia)
- Entrepreneurship should be an electoral focus around the world (Sarika Pruthi, associate professor of entrepreneurship, San Jose State University)
- Neurodiverse founders are flourishing despite discrimination (Philip Salter, founder, The Entrepreneurs Network)
- Can industrial policy help revive struggling regions? (Cameron LaPoint, assistant professor of finance, Yale)
Features
- Financial Times: Europe’s leading startup hubs
- Sifted: The role of governments in supporting women entrepreneurs
- TechCabal: How Zimbabwean startups are forging ahead despite hyperinflation and sanctions
- Time: The UAE is on a mission to become an AI power
- MIT Technology Review: Africa’s push to regulate AI starts now
- Science|Business: ‘Hidden gem’ Bulgaria can be a regional leader, says innovation minister
To suggest content for inclusion in future editions of 'The Startup State', please email matt@genglobal.org.
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