Following the information received from the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, Directorate-General for Industrial Policy, Competitiveness and SMEs, it is a pleasure to announce that the English version of the 2017 Annual Report to the Parliament on the Italian Startup Act is now online. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the startup phenomenon in Italy in terms of regulatory developments (you can find here an executive policy summary), demographics and performance of firms targeted by the Italian national policy and an assessment of the latter's results.

Among the most remarkable findings (you can find here a list of the "top 20" key findings) there is one that needs a particular emphasis: a detailed analysis of the statements of account filed by startups in the last five years (pp 67-79) shows that firms significantly and rapidly increased their annual sales volume. In fact, those that entered the policy in 2015 had on average doubled their annual turnover by the end of 2016; those that registered in 2013 and 2014 had tripled it by the same year.

This raw measure is also supported by more sophisticated analysis. Growth trends of innovative startups - and their possible causal linkages with the exposure to the Italian Startup Act - are one of the main aspects investigated by an independent econometric assessment of the impact of the Italian Startup Act, performed by the OECD STI Directorate in the last months. It is a very rich policy evaluation exercise, drawing from multiple data sources, many of them never tapped before. This can represent a benchmark for simmilar future strategies in the Italian context and elsewhere.

The wrap-up report on the study is to be published in the next couple of months.

For more information please contact Mr. Mattia Corbetta (mattia.corbetta [at] mise.gov.it) or startup [at] mise.gov.it.

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