Analysing the Italian incubation system: research about Italian incubators and their activity

In recent years, Business Incubators have been recognized as the best tools to support and foster innovation in Italy. Despite the pandemic, nine years after the launch of the national policy for innovative startups and almost seven years after the launch of the similar initiative to support innovative SMEs, the impact on the Italian innovation ecosystem seems to have been effective and the startup and innovative SME ecosystem shows great energy at 2020 with respect to the main business variables. This thesis aims to update to 2020 the annual research conducted by the Social Innovation Monitor research team of the Politecnico di Torino on Italian Business Incubators and the startups incubated by the latter. The work highlights the differences and similarities between Business Incubators, based on their business model, the services they offer, and their focus on social sectors. Eventually, a benchmark analysis has been carried out to compare the results obtained in previous years with the most recent ones, in order to monitor the diffusion of Business Incubators in the Italian entrepreneurial ecosystem and their role in the creation of successful start-ups.