Italy launches acceleration plan for startups

by Nathania Zevi

Keep an eye on start ups, they might be the economic regeneration of Italian industry.

Funds allocation and reducing barriers for those willing to invest in innovation are essential.

This is the core of the start up report, "Restart Italia" that the Italian Minister of Economic Development Corrado Passera has presented today at the base of the H-Farm incubator close to Venice.

The document, which is on line in Italian on the Ministry website consist of five chapters tackling different issues: Launch, Growth, Maturity, Awareness, Territories.

A task force of 12 experts on innovation, selected by Passera himself, last spring, has worked on it.

The issues tackled in the start up report  will be subject of debate on the method to use for boosting growth and innovation in Italy.

It is very likely, in fact, that these studies will be followed by measures aimed at becoming a law within 2013.

Doubling of venture capitals in the Italian market, which today is around 70 billion euros, is one of suggestions of the 12 experts, with a 100% increase of start ups - currently about 2500 in Italy.

The report, in the first chapter "Launch", also defines what is meant by start up, something completely different from big enterprises' spinn off.

Start ups are those innovative companies, with no more of 48 months of activity, whose human consists in most cases of Phd graduates.

The Growth chapter defines the role of the Italian Fund for Investments, already operative.

The Maturity chapter describes the procedures regarding bankruptcy and exit of investors.

The fourth chapter is about the role that school and university are supposed to play to support these initiatives.

The territory chapter focus on the importance of strengthening links between start ups and local authorities, in order to increase healthy and competitive behaviours on territories and among regions.