Italy is not yet a country for high-tech entrepreneurship. According to 360 Entrepreneurial Index, the index calculated by the observatory Digital360 of the Politecnico di Milano, we are only in 19th place in Europe in terms of investments in startups and scaleups and the ability to generate exits or unicorns. The United Kingdom appears in first place and then gradually, in front of us, there are historically advanced countries such as the Scandinavians or the Baltic countries, or countries that enjoy tax breaks such as Ireland and Luxembourg, but also smaller realities, such as Cyprus (even seventh ), Romania, Croatia and Spain itself. To give an idea of the ranking of our country (calculated on a total of 28 members), the score of the UK is 137 points, that of Germany 80, that of Italy 52.5 and that of Greece bringing up the rear 17.2.
The most painful note, which sees us in the very last places overall (25th) is that of the "Entrepreneurial Quantity", or the total amount of equity investments for financing startups in relation to GDP: in this specific ranking we have even lost positions in 2019 compared to 2018, with a total of only 610 million dollars raised, a figure that is growing but much less than what was done by our European partners. On the other hand, the so-called “Entrepreneurial Quality” improves, i.e. scaleup investment operations, mainly thanks to some foreign investors which testify to a growing international interest in our ecosystem, with a good prospect. In this ranking we are 16th, but we still do in the ability to generate Exits or Unicorns (Entrepreneurial Outcome): in the top ten, eighth to be precise.
Even in this case, however, there is a slight deterioration compared to 2018, to be analyzed considering however the volatility of this index on which exceptional operations linked to impromptu phenomena can be decisive, even in immature ecosystems. Yet growing the tech ecosystem would benefit everyone a bit: in fact, the research also reveals a positive correlation between the per capita GDP of European countries and the relative level of entrepreneurship: GDP per capita grows in the countries where the 360 Entrepreneurial Index is highest (considering a time-lag of one year to take into account that the entrepreneurial activity shows effects with a time delay). And there is also a significant positive correlation between the entrepreneurship index and the quality of government (measured through The Worldwide Governance Indicators of the World Bank), indicating the importance of an effective political-governmental system to foster the development of the ecosystem of startups.
“Research of the 360Entrepreneurial Index – he commented Andrea Rangone, President of Digital360 – shows the progress made in recent years by the Italian ecosystem of startups, even if not yet sufficient to catch up with the more mature realities. Considering the overall trend, we note a doubling of the score in the last two years, mostly achieved between 2017 and 2018, when it recorded +89%, while in 2019 the growth was slight, equal to +14%. In 2020, due to the crisis connected to the health emergency, the Italian startup landscape risks seeing investments contract significantly and the country losing experience in innovation which is fundamental for its industrial future: at this moment it is crucial to support it with liquidity and simplifications of burdens and bureaucracy".
“To this end – concluded Rangone -, both the acceleration of the work of the National Innovation Fund, with its endowment of around one billion in financial resources, and the finalization of important financial resources of the Recovery Fund, which I believe should also be used to boost the momentum for tech startups. We must not miss this opportunity to try to make up the gap with the more advanced countries".
