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 community news
- Entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Mark Cuban will headline the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, which returns to the U.S. for the first time in 15 years this summer. Join thousands of founders, investors, ecosystem builders and policymakers from 200 countries in Indianapolis, June 2-5 (GEN)
News
- The United Kingdom is to establish the Private intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) - an innovative new type of stock market for private companies that will allow founders, employees and early-stage investors to more easily realize their gains (gov.uk)
- Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones will, for the first time, host service-exporting startups within its free zones, offering them a suite of benefits including simplified procedures and full customs and tax exemptions (Daily News Egypt)
- Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney has created the country’s first cabinet post specifically responsible for artificial intelligence and digital innovation, a signal that improving Canada’s technological performance will be a key plank in the long-term plan to boost the economy (MSN)
- India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has doubled the credit guarantee scheme for startups to $2.4 and halved the annual guarantee fee to 1% for startups operating in 27 ‘champion sectors’ (YourStory)
- Kazakhstan is the latest country to launch an investment visa to attract global capital. The new visa offers a 1-year residency with streamlined entry, legal protections and long-term economic opportunities (Indiplomacy)
Research and publications
- The Lilac Review
The final report from The Lilac Review highlights the urgent need to support disabled entrepreneurs in the UK and the wider benefits of removing barriers they face. BM Magazine summary - Promoting innovative startups: Quasi-experimental evidence from Tunisia
This World Bank paper evaluates Tunisia’s “Startup Act” which supports innovative firms through incentives like tax breaks and simplified regulations. The study finds the program boosts firm survival and job creation.
Comment and analysis
- Africa’s time is now: Building global prosperity through entrepreneurship (Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, minister of state, Ministry of Finance, Nigeria)
- Growing NZ - now and for the long term (transcript of speech by Nicola Willis, minister of finance, economic growth, and social investment, New Zealand)
- How entrepreneurial development banks can fuel American growth (Victor W. Hwang, founder & CEO, Right to Start)
- Why entrepreneurship should be taught in schools (Richard Branson, founder, Virgin Group)
- Carney’s campaign made big promsies for AI. Will his government deliver? (David Cummings, reporter, CBC News)
- Ottawa needs a new industrial innovation policy (John Lester, executive fellow, School of Public Policy, University of Calgary)
- Digital inclusion: How to unlock the $5 trillion opportunity for women entrepreneurs (Tea Trumbic, manager, women, business and the law, World Bank and Chivya O’Connor, CEO, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women)
- Rethinking the relationship between government and entrepreneur support organizations (Louis-Felix Binette, executive director, MAIN)
- What Britain’s growth plan is missing: women (Check Warner, cofounding partner, Ada Ventures)
Features
- Cabo Verde’s ‘tech islands’ vision backed with $50m (African Business)
- The Greek revival you’re not watching (but probably should be) (TechCrunch interview with Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis)
- Moldova’s startup ecosystem: Interview with Dumitru Alaiba, deputy prime minister and minister for economic development and digitalization (EU-Startups)
- Biscay rising: How Spain’s Basque region became a hidden powerhouse for startups (Maddyness)
- Chinese startups once downplayed their origin. Now some celebrate it (Rest of World)
GEN Atlas insights
The GEN Atlas is the world’s largest entrepreneurship policy compendium, featuring over 400 case studies from 70 countries. Using these case studies, we publish Country Deep Dives examining the policies underpinning countries’ entrepreneurial success, Policy Deep Dives comparing different countries’ approaches to common policy challenges, and Atlas Spotlights highlighting the best examples of policies under a broad theme. Recent highlights:
- Policy deep dives: Employee share schemes | Startup visas | Youth entrepreneurship | Supporting ethnic minority entrepreneurs
- Country deep dives: South Africa | France | The Netherlands | Australia | Spain
- Atlas spotlights: Finance
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The opinions expressed in the articles above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Global Entrepreneurship Network.