The study

Start-ups, Italia ranked 43rd among the most innovative ecosystems

Our country is growing but still has a gap with its competitors. The lack of business incentives and bureaucracy are the main reasons for this.

by Massimo De Laurentiis

14 March 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Italia is not a country for young people, but perhaps it is becoming a country for start-ups. According to the Innovators Business Environment Index (IBEI) 2026, a study by the StartupBlink company that measures the most favourable contexts for the development of innovative companies, our country is in the mid-to-high part of the world rankings.

The research analyses 125 states, rating them according to more than thirty parameters grouped into five categories, including financial structure, taxation system and digital infrastructure. Based on these indicators, a score from 1 to 100 indicates how easy it is to start and run an innovative business. "Can I start easily? Can I operate profitably? Can I trust the system?" the report asks in the introduction.

Italy's position

Italia is at number 43 in the global ranking, and occupies 31st position in the European context. "The Italia landscape is growing, in the last year for example there has been a growth of investments in venture capital in contrast to other European countries," explains Giorgio Ciron, director of InnovUp, an association that represents the Italian innovation ecosystem and contributed to IBEI 2026.

"The fact is that we started late and this gap with our main competitors still weighs heavily," says Ciron. "To catch up we would have to grow much more, because the world is running."

Italian strengths

Outside the top 20 overall at both world and continental level, according to the report, Italia can nevertheless count on some advantages.

Of these, the score for passport strength is among the highest in the world. Also close to the top score are the parameters 'openness of trade' and 'availability of financial instruments'. In the latter respect, our country ranks second in the world along with Romania, France and Spain.

In addition, the InnovUp Director points out, Italia has top-notch universities and is an important talent pool. Precisely for this reason, it is essential to ensure that skills are not dispersed: 'Tax breaks should focus on the return of brains, which would contribute to long-term growth,' Ciron comments.

Another strong point is the Italian industrial excellence in sectors such as aerospace, robotics, life science and agrifoodtech. "In these contexts, the excellence of our traditional production chains is combined with the excellence of our innovation," says Ciron, "and from here excellent growth opportunities can arise for the coming years.

I PUNTI DI FORZA DELL’ECOSISTEMA ITALIANO

Parametri in cui l’Italia è più performante

Critical areas

There is no shortage of sore points. One of the most obvious problems concerns business incentives, an area in which Italia's score is 43.800, number 81 globally. Worse even than Iran (47.361), which is last in the world in the overall ranking.

What weighs most heavily is bureaucracy. "This is a pervasive theme in Italia," explains Ciron, "start-ups operate in the same context as all other companies, which have always complained of bureaucratic difficulties, especially in the start-up phase. In short, there are still bottlenecks that make it more difficult to do business'.

There is also a problem with regard to 'public procurement'. "Italian public spending accounts for half of GDP, but startups tend to be excluded from public procurement," explains Ciron. Some recent measures aim to intervene precisely on this. In the aerospace sector, for example, the Space Bill provides for 10% of subcontracts to be reserved for innovative start-ups. A model that, according to the Director of InnovUp, 'should also be extended to all other strategic sectors'.

The global context

At the top of the global ranking is the United States, which combines market size with a strong entrepreneurial culture and a business-friendly system. In the global top 3 they are closely followed by Singapore and the United Kingdom. At the European level, however, Switzerland comes first after the British, and the Netherlands, Estonia, Ireland and Bulgaria are also in the top 10.

To improve Italia's positioning, Ciron suggests taking a cue from the strengths of some competitors ahead of us: 'We look with interest at France, which has a strategic vision and invests heavily in innovation champions such as Newcleo or Mistral. Then there is the United Kingdom, where it is very easy to set up a business and finance is aimed at start-ups. Finally, there is the example of countries such as Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, which although small realised at an early stage how important innovation was, invested heavily in it and are now benchmarks.

How to improve

But what are the most important strategies to strengthen the competitiveness of our innovation ecosystem? According to InnovUp's Director, there are two ways forward: firstly, incentivising larger companies to invest and collaborate with start-ups. The other crucial point is mobilising Italy's private savings, which are still under-exploited in this respect, towards the real economy and start-ups.

"Today, the so-called 'Scaleup Act' makes it cheaper to invest in a start-up than to renovate a house,' Ciron concludes, 'so, beyond the problems that remain, it is a favourable time to invest in innovation.