“The research results give us back the reality of a healthy innovation chain, but still with great unexpressed potential. To create a virtuous growth mechanism for the startups and innovation centers involved today, a review of the regulatory context is necessary – explains Stefano SolianoVice President of Innovup –. We are working on a position paper to help the government intervene on the 2012 “startup act”. We believe we need to review the metrics to identify certified incubators and at the same time provide concessions for them. The hope is that a broader concept of innovation center can be introduced, which goes beyond the incubator or accelerator”.
And somehow, as highlighted by the report on Italian Incubators / Accelerators 2022 presented by Social Innovation Monitor (SIM), is already taking this path: 86% of incubators declare that they also carry out activities not directly attributable to incubation or acceleration activities. Specifically, the most frequent activities are participation in projects and tenders, the management and promotion of events, paid scouting and open innovation activities for companies and other subjects.
237 incubators have a turnover of 552 million euros
The incubators in Italy in 2021 turn out to be 237, with a growth of 3% compared to the previous year. These are mainly private incubators (they represent 67%, while at the beginning of the phenomenon they were mainly public, with a strong presence of universities) and the most common legal forms are the Srl and the Spa. Social Incubators are gaining ground (more than half of the incubated organizations must have a significant social and/or environmental impact): they represent 15%, but added to those defined as Mixed they reach 52% of the total.
There are more incubators (24%) than accelerators (17%), but the realities that perform both functions dominate (59% of the total).
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As regards turnover, in 2021 there was significant growth compared to previous years: it went from 348 million in 2020 to 552 of 2021 (the previous best performance dates back to 2018: 391 million). The growth in the number of incubators certainly has an influence (from 162 in 2016 to the current 237), but also the increase in average turnover. The number of employees of Italian incubators has grown, with a constant trend from 2016 to today, reaching today 1.736 (they were 1595 last year and 769 in 2016).
As regards the selection of candidates the 68% of incubators have an open door (startups can therefore apply at any time), 62% resort to one or more calls or competitions during the year. An average of 150 incubation requests were received and 32 organizations were supported.
As for the geographical distribution, the largest number of incubators are located in the North-West of the country (34%), driven by Lombardy, with 57 incubators present. Emilia-Romagna (29), Lazio (22), Tuscany (18) and Campania (16) follow in order.
3632 startup incubate
From the analysis conducted by the SIM, 3632 startups are estimated to be incubated in Italy. The geographical distribution is almost uniform, with the South and the islands recovering from 11% in 2020 to the current 24%.
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90% have fewer than 5 employees and 55% invoice less than 25 thousand euros per year. Analyzing the billing data, it emerges that the average is 133,000 euros, the median 18,000, indicating the fact that there are few, large startups that bill high figures and decidedly above the average (4% bill more than 500 thousand euros).
Organizations with a social or environmental impact
Also this year the report dedicated a special focus to the social and environmental impact of incubators and incubated startups.
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As we have seen, 48% of incubators and accelerators in Italy fall into the Business Incubator category, while the remaining 52 are divided between Social Incubators and mixed incubators. It therefore appears that one incubator out of two has supported organizations with a significant social or environmental impact in the last year. The most represented sectors are those related to health and welfare (including sport), community development and environmental and animal protection.