Main evidences of the first GovTech research on the relationship between startups and the public system in Italy conducted by Feel and InnovUp
-
The value of GovTech in Europe is equal to 116 billion euros, in Italy 8.85% of innovative startups that have signed a contract with an actor in the public system, for a total value of 4.6 billion euros.
-
The main way of purchasing startup services by the public system is through the temporary grouping of companies in projects financed by the PNRR, outside this mode the value of the contracts entrusted to startups alone drops to 54 million euros with an average of each contract less than € 15,000.
-
Startups' point of view in working with the public system: good reputational benefits (82%), certainty of payments (43%) and size of budgets (34%), bad timing of payments (30%) and low level of technical competence in evaluating proposals (39%).
-
Point of view of the public system in working with startups: limits to collaboration lie in the lack of technical skills related to innovation within the public system, and in the organizational immaturity of startups in relation to the requirements of the PA.
-
Fundamental differences in the relationship with startups by central public bodies (startups such as frontier R&D) compared to local ones (startups as protagonists of territorial innovation ecosystems).
-
Public system approach to GovTech expressed in 4 archetypes illustrated in the research: free riders, cautious explorers, creative bureaucracies, and Gov Tech leaders.
Feel is an operational think tank that deals with open innovation and digital transformation for the public system, founded by Marcello Coppa, Simone De Battisti and Andrea Landini. In 2022 it launched a cycle of free GovTech Masterclasses aimed at 25 administrators and technicians of the public administration, involving a network of international experts and civil servants among the teachers.
InnovUp is the non-profit and super partes association that represents and unites the Italian innovation chain: startups, scaleups, innovative SMEs, innovation centers, incubators, accelerators, science and technology parks, professional firms, consulting companies and corporates.