Sicily cradle of start-ups leads the race for It innovation

The latest event, in order of time, took place in Palermo last week: the Sicily Innovation Award, organised by Digitrend, which revolves around the Innovation Island platform. An award now in its third edition that aims to bring out and tell what is moving in this field in the region and beyond. And in truth, just to look at the last three years, a lot of new things have happened on the island on this front. "Our objective is to bring out and give visibility to the entire world of Sicilian innovation,' explains Digitrend CEO Biagio Semilia, 'which is made up of stories of companies that have built winning models.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that several companies at the top of the 2026 Sole 24 Ore - Statista Growth Leaders List are based in Sicily and are active in the IT and software sector (which aggregates 14.2% of the total of 500 companies present). Catania has always been ahead and Catania (now a favourite home of accelerators, incubators and other initiatives) is home to Beentouch Srl, which ranks 19th: since 2017 it has been operating in the ICT sector with a specific focus on solutions for business efficiency through digital transformation processes and the implementation of enabling technologies. A small company (now 17 employees) with a very interesting performance: it has gone from a total turnover of 388 thousand euro in 2021 to just over 3.4 million in 2024. Just as interesting is the path of Pixora, an innovative start-up founded in 2021 that relies on the strong expertise of its employees, technicians and consultants, on Erp systems and Cloud & IoT technologies. Operating in partnership with important industrial partners, the company develops vertical competences and solutions for the sectors of automation, intelligent transport and building management and their assisted maintenance. The company has grown from a turnover of just over 175,000 in 2021 to 1.5 million in 2024, from seven to 12 employees.

In Apulia, in Brindisi, we find Prime Agency Srl, which belongs to Algòmera, a software house that deals with bespoke projects in the areas of web development and artificial intelligence, as well as, of course, creating bespoke software. Prime Agency, in 32nd place in the Growth Leaders ranking, had a turnover of 232,000 euro in 2021 and ended 2024 at 1.7 million; it had five employees in 2021 and 25 at the end of 2024. Worth mentioning, in 46th place on the Growth Leaders list, is Soplaya which is an e-commerce platform for the Horeca world that integrates suppliers, logistics and digital platform: food and no-food orders in one click. Every day, by bringing data and transparency into the supply chain, the company helps restaurateurs simplify their purchases and save money, and offers producers easy and profitable access to the market. Soplaya, which is based in Udine, is booming: in 2021 it had a turnover of 2.128 million and 16 employees, it closed 2024 with a turnover of 11.192 million and 55 employees.