Italy “startup nation”. 6 years after the creation of the special section of the Business Register reserved for innovative startups, the businesses of Italian innovators reach 5 digits for the first time. That's 10.027, to be exact, companies – in the process of being established or already established no more than 60 months ago – which as of 18 March had as their exclusive or prevalent corporate purpose “the development, production and marketing of innovative products or services with high technological value”. A "path of innovation" that our country began to follow in 2012 when the then Monti government began to build an ecosystem made up of tax breaks and new legislation aimed at promoting sustainable growth, technological development and employment , especially juveniles. THEcomplete list – elaborated by InfoCamere, the company of the Italian Chambers of Commerce for digital innovation – is updated every week.
From a geographical point of view, Lombardy leads the ranking of the most prolific regions in creating startups with 2.525 innovative companies and then Lazio with 1.116, followed by Emilia Romagna (888) and Campania (783). Milano continues to represent the main pole for innovative Italian companies: they are well located in the Lombard capital 1.769 startup (17,6% of the national total), more than in any other Italian province. Also Roma, in second place, boasts a constantly growing population, which has recently exceeded one thousand (1.007). From Abano Spas in Zoppola, there are 1.700 Italian municipalities in which innovation is made; 10 those in which at least 100 innovative startups are registered.
Despite the legislation onlstartups is open to all economic sectors, there is a notable concentration in sectors with a clear technological vocation. The 34,3% of innovative startups is linked to activities of “software production" and the 13,5% to "research and development”. The manufacturing sector considered as a whole is also well represented, in which 18,5% of startups are located.
As of 18 March, the innovative startups set up using the new method ofdigital are over two thousand. The measure, introduced with Legislative Decree 3/2015 and effective from July 2016, allows an estimated average saving of 2 thousand euros for the start-up act alone. In 2018 they were 953 innovative startups were set up online, compared to 896 in 2017, for an increase of 6,4% on an annual basis. Among the innovative companies created in the last quarter, over 4 out of 10 opted for the new method (42,8%, up compared to 40,0% for the whole of 2018 and 39% in 2017). Sardinia is the region with the highest rate of adoption of the measure: 7 startups out of 10 (70,8%) launched in the last year were created online.
The number of startups that open up to a network of companies one by one continues to grow virtuous exchange of digital skills and entrepreneurial know-how. Last February, the threshold of 100 realities (114) that are part of a network contract was exceeded. The interest in this new institution particularly involves innovative startups that offer services to businesses (78% of the total), with the legal nature of a limited liability company (103 in absolute value). The 2017 financial statements show that in 4 out of 10 cases the value of production is less than 100 thousand euros, in 3 out of 4 under 500 thousand.
