InnovUp and PwC Italia take stock of the Italian innovation ecosystem and technology transfer (TT), involving researchers, managers, directors of innovation hubs and institutional representatives. The meeting highlighted five structural issues. <\/p>\n\n
The theme of failure emerged several times: both in the panel and in institutional dialogues. It was highlighted how in Italy, mistakes are still perceived as a personal defeat, rather than a natural part of the innovation process. Here, the most obvious consequence is that as long as making mistakes remains a disgrace, many will give up taking enough risks to generate true innovation. <\/p>\n\n
It was pointed out that technology transfer is not a shortcut from research to market. Many discoveries remain confined to laboratories, not because they lack value, but because they do not have a sustainable economic model or concrete industrial potential. Therefore, transfer does not just mean patenting. It means understanding what can become a business and what cannot. <\/p>\n\n
Examples were given of innovation hubs and science and technology parks that welcome hundreds of students, researchers, businesses and start-ups every day, showing how much the physical factor contributes to the creation of new initiatives. It also emerged that infrastructure only really works when guided by specific skills, not by formal or territorial logic. The bottom line is that hubs are useful if they create networks. If they remain empty containers, they become costs rather than multipliers. <\/p>\n\n
The panel and institutional representatives reported on the impact of regulatory complexity: controls, anti-corruption measures and procedures that are often applied uniformly to profoundly different situations. The result is a slowdown in technology transfer, especially in the start-up phase of spin-offs and start-ups. Innovation does not require fewer rules, but rules that are proportionate to the risk, stage and objective. <\/p>\n\n
The most difficult phase is not starting a project, but making it grow. The panel discussion revealed that Italy lacks intermediate infrastructure between laboratories and production, and that applied research struggles to find adequate space, tools and time. Without places and resources to scale up, the best ideas remain prototypes or migrate elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n
In the final discussions, it was reiterated that simplification, aggregation and European coordination are essential levers for making technology transfer truly work. The common request was clear: stable industrial policies, shared infrastructure and regulatory frameworks that reward experimentation rather than penalising it. Technology transfer is not a transition between two worlds. It is an ecosystem. And an ecosystem only works when all players operate within the same vision. <\/p>\n\n
Venture building is playing an increasingly important role in bringing academic research to market and transforming it into genuine applied research. It is also important in training new entrepreneurs using a new risk-sharing philosophy that was unknown in Italy until recently. Like science and technology parks, this model needs to be given an institutional framework,” Giulio Centemero, a member of parliament with a keen interest in innovation, tells Startupbusiness. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n The report presented during the meeting provides an in-depth analysis of the Italian innovation ecosystem. Based on two surveys of 40 stakeholders, including accelerators, incubators, financial operators, science and technology parks (STPs) and other players in the sector, the document highlights strengths, critical issues and priorities for the future. <\/p>\n\n The study shows that 75% of respondents recognise entrepreneurial talent and creativity as the main drivers of Italian innovation, while 69% rate scientific and academic research as high quality. In addition, 50% report the presence of dynamic local ecosystems consisting of hubs, incubators and accelerators. <\/p>\n\n Among the critical issues, 91% of respondents reported difficulties in accessing private capital, while 81% highlighted obstacles arising from bureaucratic and regulatory complexities. 72% of participants also pointed to a lack of innovation culture in SMEs, and 56% highlighted the poor exploitation of research results. <\/p>\n\n Technology transfer appears to be a key element and is no longer limited to the protection of intellectual property, but now finds its maximum expression in collaboration between research and business and in the exploitation of scientific results through new entrepreneurial initiatives. Among the methods of TT, respondents highlight: public-private partnerships (44%), spin-offs (41%), patents (38%) and licences (22%). Despite this, 22% report the absence of active forms of technology transfer. <\/p>\n\n On the service provider front, 94% indicate that a solid professional network is essential, while 75% highlight the importance of strategic partnerships with universities, research centres and businesses. Among the skills to be strengthened, fundraising and finance for innovation (66%) and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain (53%) stand out. <\/p>\n\n With regard to science and technology parks, the research confirms their evolution into strategic infrastructures, with an increase in the incidence of technology transfer activities on revenues. Despite this, the main difficulties reported by PSTs include: the involvement of businesses (63%) and coordination with public bodies (50%), exacerbated by the absence of formal national legal recognition, which limits their visibility and access to funding. <\/p>\n\n Among the priorities for the next five years, 88% of parks identify the enhancement of services to businesses as the number one priority, followed by strengthening relations with universities and research centres (50%), developing new infrastructure and laboratories (50%) and opening up new funding channels (50%).<\/p>\n\n The PwC Italia and InnovUp report thus highlights the need for an integrated and synergistic model between service providers and science and technology parks in order to overcome fragmentation, accelerate technology transfer and transform scientific knowledge into real economic and social value for the country.<\/p>\n\n “The report shows that Italian innovation rests on solid foundations: high-level scientific expertise, a widespread network of operators and a growing entrepreneurial culture. However, there is a clear need to strengthen collaboration between all players in the ecosystem and to evolve towards more coordinated and integrated governance. Only in this way will it be possible to overcome the current fragmentation and generate a systemic and continuous impact on the territory,” comments Stefano Soliano, vice president of InnovUp and CEO of C.NEXT, in a statement. <\/strong>– Science and technology parks, which should finally receive formal recognition, universities, service providers and businesses must become part of a single value chain, capable of transforming research into entrepreneurial initiatives, attracting capital and spreading innovation, including among SMEs. At InnovUp, we believe that the key is to build a supply chain that speaks with one voice and acts as a network, leveraging local experiences to generate national and international competitiveness. <\/p>\n\n Vincenzo Tanania, partner at PwC Italy, digital innovation, adds: “The InnovUp association aims to listen to and fully understand the priorities of the innovation ecosystem. The shared goal is to value different perspectives and collaborate to build concrete and actionable responses for all players in the innovation chain. <\/strong> It is an important step that ensures that meeting spaces, whether physical or virtual, increasingly become points of connection between different skills, experiences and visions, capable of generating a positive and lasting impact on innovation in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We need to work on the critical issues of the ecosystem if we want to make innovation more effective, according to a report by PwC and InnovUp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":148353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1328],"tags":[1378,1137,1136,2125],"companies":[1610,3051],"journalist":[1551],"class_list":["post-148355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-ecosystem-en","tag-italy-en","tag-startup-en-2","tag-trasferimento-tecnologico-en","companies-innovup-en","companies-pwc-en","journalist-maria-matloub-en"],"featured_sizes_urls":{"thumbnail":{"src":"https:\/\/www.startupbusiness.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-13-at-21.37.21.webp","width":150,"height":113,"crop":false,"srcset":false,"alt":"trasferimento tecnologico"},"large":{"src":"https:\/\/www.startupbusiness.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-13-at-21.37.21.webp","width":1024,"height":768,"crop":false,"srcset":false,"alt":"trasferimento tecnologico"},"2048x2048":{"src":"https:\/\/www.startupbusiness.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-13-at-21.37.21.webp","width":2048,"height":1536,"crop":false,"srcset":false,"alt":"trasferimento tecnologico"}},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe data<\/h2>\n\n