Open Innovation: the market in Italia exceeds 900 million
According to the Open Innovation Lookout 2026 Observatory, the ecosystem has grown by 160 million in one year. Specialised players are increasing and collaboration models between companies, start-ups and technology partners are strengthening, but critical issues and challenges remain, including Ai
Key points
If innovating is one of the millennium imperatives, the deep integration oftechnological services within companies' strategies is one of the phenomena that is reshaping the landscape of global competitiveness. In recent years in Italy Open Innovation - the ecosystem of services that accompany companies along the path of innovation through collaboration with start-ups, universities and technology partners, to intercept ideas and projects that are difficult to develop internally - has in fact definitively left the experimental phase to become a structural feature of the growth plans of large corporate groups, and not only.
So from the question of the past - to adopt 'open innovation' models or not? - the current reflection has moved to a more advanced level. That is, on how Oi can be implemented on an ongoing basis, aligning it with the priorities of the enterprise. Rather than a set of sporadic initiatives, Oi must be interpreted today as a system of processes, skills and relationships to be integrated precisely into business processes.
The market exceeds 900 million in value
Taking a snapshot of how the sector in Italia is moving at the moment is the Open Innovation Lookout 2026 Observatory realised by the Innovation & Strategy research group of the Polimi School of Management together with Lab11, a spin-off of the Scuola Sant'Anna of Pisa, with the involvement of businesses and professionals in the sector, which will be presented on 19 February.
"For companies, understanding the logic behind the functioning of this ecosystem becomes a key element for orientation," explains Federico Frattini, of the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano and scientific director of the study together with his colleague Josip Kotlar and Alberto Di Minin, of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, "it is no longer just a matter of selecting a supplier, but of being able to read and activate effective combinations of players, skills and collaboration models. From a dimensional point of view, it is not surprising that the market for these services is on the rise: 902 million euro in total value to date, with an increase of 160 million in one year.
The map of players and the potential of venture clienting
The panorama of players appears uneven: at the top in terms of turnover are specialised consulting companies, science and technology parks and corporate innovation hubs. The top five categories of players by turnover account for 31% of the sample (consisting of 503 organisations) and concentrate as much as 81% of the entire market. The analysis of the three-year period 2023-2025 shows that Oi consultancy companies have almost doubled in Italia (from 58 to 103), as have startup studios and venture builders (from 37 to 75), confirming their position among the drivers of the system.
