From ideas to start-ups: an obstacle course in Italia

Italia remains among the countries with the lowest entrepreneurial propensity, ranking 30th out of 48 in the GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) global ranking. This was revealed in the GEM Italy 2025–2026 Report presented by Universitas Mercatorum, the digital university founded by the Italian Chamber of Commerce system and part of the Multiversity group, one of Italy’s leading organisations in the education sector.

The study reveals a long-term trend towards a decline in the number of new businesses being set up in the country, although in recent years there has been a post-pandemic recovery, with indicators of entrepreneurial activity returning to growth after the number of new business registrations fell by 20 per cent in 2020 compared with the previous year. In 2025, the TEA – the indicator that measures entrepreneurial activity – stands at around 11 per cent, reaching its highest level for the entire period under review. However, whilst Italia’s TEA is in line with that of many other European countries such as Germany, France and Switzerland, it ranks in the lower-middle range in an international comparison.

In Italia, in fact – particularly when compared with North American and Northern European countries – entrepreneurship remains underdeveloped and the growth potential of new businesses remains limited. Despite the recovery observed in the two-year period 2024–2025 compared with the previous period, the number of new entries in the business register has fallen from over 400,000 in 2010 to around 325,000 in the last two years. The manufacturing sector is the main driver of this decline, with new registrations falling from over 21,000 to fewer than 13,000, whilst knowledge-intensive sectors – such as hi-tech – appear to be in better health, driven in particular by the services sector. Much of the reduction in the number of new businesses is attributable to the sector with the largest share of the total – the retail sector – which has seen new registrations fall from over 100,000 between 2010 and 2015 to around 60,000 in 2025. However, the report highlights a number of encouraging signs, such as increased innovation, the spread of digital technologies and a growing focus on sustainability and artificial intelligence.

As well as analysing the factors that encourage or hinder the creation of new businesses, the GEM report also examines the reasons behind the gap between the intention to start a business and the actual launch of a business. According to the findings, this gap plays a major role in Italia. Although almost one in five Italians would like to start a business, only a fraction actually manage to do so. The main obstacles include both subjective factors – such as self-efficacy, perception of one’s own abilities and risk appetite – and contextual factors, ranging from difficulties in accessing credit to a limited perception of opportunities, as well as the complexity of the regulatory framework. The perception that starting a business is difficult – which in Italia is higher than the average for advanced economies – and the fear of failure also play a significant role.

According to the report, there are numerous factors that influence the propensity for entrepreneurship, which in Italia varies significantly, primarily on the basis of age, with lower figures amongst young people compared to other countries and a growing importance of the adult age groups. Whilst, for example, countries such as Ecuador and Canada record youth TEA rates of over 30 per cent, Italia’s stands at just over 10 per cent. Furthermore, according to the GEM report, the percentage of individuals who describe themselves as entrepreneurs is lower in the 18–34 age group – at around 30 per cent – whilst it rises significantly in subsequent age groups, with the highest figure recorded in the 45–54 age group.