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
- Seoul Metropolitan Government boosts startup ecosystem with new scale-up center and massive $731m funding initiative (KoreaTechDesk)
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has opened its first facility specializing in startup investment, the Seoul Startup Hub Scale-up Center. The 2,740 sqm facility houses venture capital firms with a total fund management of $731m. - Israel Innovation Authority: Startups shifting overseas (Globes)
The Israel Innovation Authority, an independent statutory authority attached to the Ministry of Economy and Industry, published a position paper warning “there is a risk of Israeli hi-tech splitting away from global trends”. - Crypto, influencers targeted in Kenya’s new tax bid (TechCrunch)
Kenya is proposing charging a 3% tax on the transfer or exchange value of digital assets, while content creators will pay 15% on online earnings, up from 5% withholding income tax. Kenya is ranked second in Africa (19th globally) in terms of crypto adoption - FTC Chair Khan and officials from DOJ, CFPB and EEOC release joint statement on AI (FTC)
U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair and officials from three other federal agencies have jointly pledged to uphold America’s commitment to the core principles of fairness, equality and justice as emerging automated systems, including AI, become increasingly common in our daily lives - impacting civil rights, fair competition, consumer protection, and equal opportunity.
Related:- White House signals support for AI legislation (The Washington Post)
- UK’s antitrust watchdog announces initial review of generative AI (TechCrunch)
- ChatGPT is back in Italy (TheNextWeb)
- Finnish Startup Community’s message to the next government: Improving the availability of labor has to be at the center of reforms (Helsinki Times)
Research / Insight
- The World Bank launches B-READY manual and methodology workshops
Business Ready (B-READY), the World Bank’s corporate flagship that replaces Doing Business has published its manual and guide and methodology handbook. The B-READY team is hosting several in-person and online two-day methodology workshops over the coming weeks. - LatAm Digital Report Startup Study 2023
McKinsey & Co has surveyed 200 of the top LatAm startups, 300 startup employees and 300 STEM students, and interviewed 30 market leaders across 8 countries and 15 industries to understand the state of entrepreneurship across Latin America. - The Future of Jobs Report 2023
The World Economic Forum’s fourth edition of The Future of Jobs Report explores how jobs and skills will evolve over the next five years.
Comment
- Balanced intellectual property policy is critical for startup formation and talent mobility (Tarang Mishra, policy fellow, Engine Foundation)
- Why government-backed R&D pays for itself in tech, jobs and sustainability (Dimitri Zabelin, associate, LSE Ideas)
- The U.S. economy needs the startup visa act (Connie Zegarra, contributor, International Policy Digest)
- A platform for growth: Accelerating Eswatini’s digital transformation (Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank country director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini)
- Industrial policy has officially made a comeback, chief economists say (Spencer Feingold, digital editor, World Economic Forum)
Analysis / Features
- Realistic Optimist: Rome wasn’t built in a day: The story of the Italian startup ecosystem
- Tech Safari: Rwanda: The Singapore of Africa?
- Nikkei Asia: Foothills of Mount Fuji emerge as proving grounds for startups
- Sifted: Switzerland faces startup talent brain drain
Quote of the week
“The worst thing to happen to a tax relief is it becomes popular”
Tax crackdown on entrepreneurs who give away their companies (The Telegraph, UK)
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