The pandemic does not stop the growth of new startups. Infocamere report
Digital Enablers are the main accelerators of the growth of Startups and Innovative ICT SMEs, whose development depends on the reference economic and territorial ecosystems that can act as a driving force. Numbers and scenarios in the Infocamere report
How are startups doing at the time of the pandemic?
This question is indirectly answered by the first monitoring analysis by Anitec and Infocamere.
Here are all the details.
Anitec-Assinform, the Confindustria Association that brings together the main ICT companies, and InfoCamere, the company of the Italian Chambers of Commerce for digital innovation, today presented the first monitoring analysis dedicated to demographic trends and economic performance of Startups and innovative SMEs in the ICT sector.
Startups & PMIIs are very concentrated in the North, with a lower presence in the South
At the end of February 2021, 6,663 Startups and innovative SMEs (S & PMIIs) belong to the ICT sector, currently registered in the special section of the Business Register, equal to 47.8% of the total of innovative Startups and SMEs. In practice, almost 1 in 2 belongs to the ICT sector and overall more than 7 out of 10 are companies in the IT software and consulting sector and almost 2 out of 10 in IT services.
Lombardy hosts over a quarter of all Italian innovative startups (27.0%) but even more S & PMII ICT with a share of 29.5%. Followed by Lazio (13.5%) and Campania (8%) Veneto (7.3%), Emilia Romagna (7.1%), Piedmont (5.9%) and Puglia and Tuscany (4.6% and 4, 3% respectively). On the other hand, this shortage of S & PMII ICT in the south remains worrying, despite the various incentives proposed.
The Demographic Growth of Startups & PMII continues despite the emergency, but beware of the suspension of telematic registrations
Despite the persistence of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 the growth rate of new registrations of innovative ICT startups and SMEs increased, reaching 2,006 with an increase of + 17.9%, almost 5 points higher than the overall dynamics of ICT new registrations in all sectors (+ 13.3%).
In 2020, more than one in three or 33.4% of new S & PMIIs in the ICT field were established online (33.3% in 2019) against 31.4% in the overall perimeter (27.2% in 2019).
During 2021 it will be necessary to monitor whether and to what extent the suspension of the online incorporation procedure for innovative startups (following the sentence of the Council of State of 29 March 2021) will impact the growth in registrations.
Micro-enterprises prevail, few young people and fewer female enterprises
Like all innovative startups, ICT ones are above all micro-enterprises. About two out of three have up to 4 employees, an equity capital of less than 10,000 euros and a production value of up to 100-150,000 euros. Almost one in 5 (or 19.9%) are enterprises founded by under-35s and female enterprises are equal to 10.7% in the ICT sector against 13.1%, recorded in the complex of ICT and non-ICT S & PMIIs.
Some Digital Enablers, more than others, accelerate the creation of Startup & PMII ICT
The most innovative components of the entire digital market, or Digital Enabler, have confirmed their leading role in the entire market also in 2020 with double-digit rates and have seen their share increase from 19.5% in 2019 to 21% in the 2020 (see Digital in Italy 2020).
From the analysis of the lines of activity indicated by the companies on the windows of the #ItalyFrontiers platform, the Digital Enablers on which the S & PMII ICT focus are mainly on IoT solutions (indicated by 644 companies) and Industry 4.0 (indicated by 229 companies), and a good number of S & PMII ICT companies are active in artificial intelligence and machine learning (599 companies), mobile apps (457 companies), big data & data and social science (468 companies), blockchain and cybersecurity (270 companies).
The non-ICT Startup & PMII share with digital activities is significant
A significant number of S & PMIIs registered with ATECO codes other than those that make up the ICT sector indicate in their profiling lines of activity in the ICT and digital fields. The criterion of "prevalence" allows them to indicate the presence of products and services with a high technological value despite being their core business in non-ICT sectors. Thus, 488 non-ICT S & PMIIs indicate that they are active in IoT, 384 in Industry 4.0 and 197 in AI and machine learning.
It is a clear sign of how companies in the "non-ICT" sectors are starting to take action on the new scenarios enabled by digital innovation: from the "intelligent" automation of existing processes, to the creation of new business models, especially thanks to the monetization of the data exchanged. along the supply chains, up to real scientific discoveries or engineering innovations that address new problems with "deep tech" startups very often in collaboration with universities.
Patent activities and highly qualified personnel not very common among ICT Startups & PMIIs
Patent activity is present in 1,085 companies or 16.3% of registered S & PMII ICTs. Highly qualified personnel are slightly more present in 1,735 cases (26.6% of registered S & PMII ICTs) and the presence of R&D expenditure is much more widespread in 4,986 cases (74.8% of registered S & PMII ICTs).
By geographical distribution, patent activity is clearly more present in the North-West and, subsequently, in the North-East compared to the other territories, but still too little widespread among companies in the Center and South and Islands.
ICT S & PMIIs with a significant share of highly qualified personnel also have a greater concentration in the North-West, a sign that in other regions, as well as not being widespread enough, the use of financing and incentives for the creation of start-ups and entrepreneurship of researchers, collaboration initiatives with universities are also less widespread (often an incubation center for ICT start-ups) and the lack of STEM and ICT skills is much higher and worrying.
S & PMII ICTs with a significant level of R&D spending intensity are more common, also because the definition of R&D expenditure is understood in a broader sense than R&D in the strict sense.
The economic and financial indicators outline positive scenarios, albeit with diversified profiles.
Among the ICT S & PMIIs registered in the special section of the Business Register for the period 2017-2019, the total production value is constantly increasing from 239.3 million euros in 2017 to 364.4 and 481.5 million in 2019, as well as the total added value (from 87 million euros in 2017 to 130.6 and 166.6 million in 2019).
On average in all three years, for every euro of production, S & PMII ICTs generate 35 cents of added value, a higher value than the approximately 24 cents of all sectors.
ICT Startups & PMIIs with a focus on Industry 4.0 and Digital Enabler are more dynamic and productive
Production and added value recorded higher growth rates for ICT S & PMIIs with a focus on Industry 4.0 and Digital Enabler.
The average added value for each euro of production is even higher where the activity is focused on industry 4.0 (36.8 cents in 2019) or on Digital Enablers (43.8 cents). The negative average ROE is also lower than the average value of S & PMII ICTs, at -30.5 cents for activities focused on industry 4.0 and -24.1 for activities focused on Digital Enablers, while the debt for both cases is substantially stable.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/la-pandemia-non-ferma-la-crescita-delle-nuove-startup-report-infocamere/ on Thu, 13 May 2021 10:13:46 +0000.