Data from the new report on Open Innovation in Italy presented at SMAU shows that large companies are still leading the market while SMEs have started to emerge again.
In Italy, the scaleup ecosystem (former startups that have now moved on to the next stage of growth) is seeing a positive growth trend, yet the gap with ecosystems in other countries remains significant and is widening further. Looking abroad to scout for innovation is therefore of fundamental importance. This is what emerges from the new Report "Open Innovation Outlook Italy 2022" produced by Mind the Bridge with the support of SMAU.
The analysis methodology adopted by the research has already been used in the past by Mind the Bridge at an international level to assess companies' propensity to open innovation; here it is implemented on hundreds of Italian companies of different sizes and markets. This methodology measures both the internal factors that enable innovation (strategy, organisation, processes and culture) and the concrete actions implemented (startup acceleration, procurement, co-development, investments, acquisitions and results achieved).
Positive picture but still a long way to go
As of December 2020, 261 scaleups (startups with more than $1 million in funding) had been registered in Italy and have been able to raise $2.7 billion in equity since their founding. Italy's closest competitor, Spain, hosts around 1.6 times as many, with 2.6 times as many investments. France and Germany host 3.3 and 4.7 times as much respectively, with investments as much as 7.5 to 10 times higher. These numbers clearly show how, despite a generally positive situation, Italy does not yet have a firm place on the world map of innovation.
In general, there is a general and positive increase in strategic awareness of innovation, with more effective plans and processes, which consequently leads to better results. The propensity to open innovation by Italian companies is growing, especially by large companies. SMEs are also adapting, albeit more slowly.
Who drives innovation in Italy
Entering into the details of the data, we note that the "Italian Corporate Startup Stars" (a subset of 25 large companies) show a score of 2.8, or 1 point less than the "Global Corporate Startup Stars". Although the gap has narrowed by 0.2 points since last year, it is still significant, even if the analysis is restricted to the top 10 companies (0.8 point delta: 3.3 vs. 4.1).
Among the Top25 Italian companies, only 14 (56%, 3 more than last year) show an overall score above the average. Only one company - Enel - shows a score above 4, in line with global benchmarks.
Large companies are currently the most active players in open innovation, but SMEs and more and more scale-ups (the largest and most structured ones) are also starting to get more involved. Smaller companies, on the other hand, remain, with very limited exceptions, still out of the game.
As far as sectors are concerned, 9 of the 25 Italian "Corporate Startup Stars" belong to the Energy market (which also includes Oil & Gas and Multi-Utilities). The second most represented sector is Banking and Insurance with 5 companies, followed by Construction and Infrastructure with 3. Important and positive signals come from other sectors, including Aerospace, Automotive, Electronics, Food, Media and Retail.
In conclusion, the report reflects a marked improvement in the Italian system both from the internal side of the factors that enable Open Innovation, and from the external side of the actions to implement change. The growth rate, however, is unfortunately not yet sufficient to close the gap with the world leaders in innovation.