Year-end balance sheet for the usual quarterly report drawn up by the Ministry of Economic Development in collaboration with InfoCamere and Unioncamere and dedicated to the world of new technology companies. The last three months of 2021, we read in the note accompanying the document, confirm the state of good health of the Italian innovation ecosystem, with a number of companies registered in the special section substantially unchanged compared to the previous period (14,077, an increase of 45 units) and equal to 3.7% of the total number of joint stock companies established in Italy in the last five years and still active. One point is underlined to demonstrate the positive trend: the share capital increased by 2.7% for an average of about 65 thousand euros per company and a total of 938 million euros, despite the number of shareholders as of 1 January down by 499 units, to 67,940, compared to the end of October.
The main sectors of activity command software and IT
According to the report, 75.7% of innovative startups operate in the field of business services and in particular software production and IT consultancy (in 38.5%), research and development activities (14 , 3%) and information service activities (8.9%). Even 16% of companies operating in manufacturing are mainly engaged in, and specifically, a large part is specialized in the field of machinery manufacturing and manufacturing of computers and electronic and optical products, while 3% operate in commerce. The composition of the social structures.
Quote rose in minoranza
Innovative startups with a prevalence of women (ownership shares and administrative positions are held mostly by women) are always the minority, 1,854, and correspond to 13.2% of the total. Those in which at least one woman is present in the social structure are 6,036, 42.8% of the total. In both cases these are values that are decidedly lower than the figures recorded by the other new joint stock companies. On the other hand, the prevalence of young people (under 35) out of the total number of innovative companies is in percentage terms in surplus compared to that found among new non-innovative companies (18.8% against 15.4%). Lombardy and Trentino are the virtuous examples
The fourth quarter does not change the already consolidated balances
Lombardy is the region with the highest number of startups (3,749, equal to 26.6% of the national total) and precedes Lazio (1,700, 12.1%) and Campania (1,290, 9.1%). At the bottom are Basilicata with 132 (0.9%), Molise with 81 (0.6%) and Valle d’Aosta with 21 (0.2%). Trentino-Alto Adige, once again, instead stands out in the ranking of the incidence of innovative companies in relation to the total number of joint stock companies with a percentage of 5.5% (the province of Trento reaches 8.4%), ahead of Lombardy (5.1%) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (5%). Looking at the data on a provincial basis, a strong dichotomy emerges between the number of startups located in the top 20 provinces in the ranking (more than 160) and that of the last 10 (less than 15). The negative record goes to Vibo Valentia and Vercelli, where only 6 and 5 startups are active respectively.
Turnover and average assets are down
As always, the available balance sheet data relate to 2020 and cover only 61.7% of the startups currently registered. The average value of production of these companies is just under € 176.1 thousand, a decrease compared to the previous quarter (about € 11 thousand less), while the average assets are about € 408 thousand, down by about 8,500 euros compared to the previous survey. The total turnover, on the other hand, amounts to one billion and 530 million, down by 10.2 million euros compared to that recorded at the end of the previous quarter, and only the data relating to the total operating income recorded in 2020 is in contrast with the trend, resulting in negative for 116.2 million euros compared to 122.7 million in the previous three months. Finally, in 2020, the majority of innovative startups (53%) are loss-making and the figure is practically unchanged compared to the previous surveys.