Innovative start-ups are currently considered an important channel for industrial changing and renewal of the economic system. Among the initiatives finalised to stimulate their diffusion, the proposition of start-up competitions (SUCs) is obtaining an increasing recognition among policy-makers. Despite SUCs are becoming more widespread, there is a gap in literature about the social and economic advantages provided by them as well as how they actually work. Also a comprehensive and systematic overview of SUCs is currently missing. With this in mind, the paper aims at presenting an explorative analysis of Italian SUCs phenomenon in order to provide an overview of their main characteristics and of the potential impact on the territorial context. This deepening is necessary to support the diffusion of such SUCs, but also preparatory for the creation of a suitable ecosystem to improve the processes of business start-up. Overall, 77 SUCs were analyzed on the basis of different classification criteria (geographical coverage and distribution, funding institutions, number of stages and duration, type of prizes, etc). The findings show that the diffusion of SUCs is accompanied from an evolutionary process of deep changes, which can be interpreted as a consequence of the growing private organizations interest in promoting such initiatives.

Are Italian Start-up Competitions an Instrument to Foster the Entrepreneurship Policy? An explorative analysis

Passaro Renato;Quinto Ivana;Thomas Antonio
2015-01-01

Abstract

Innovative start-ups are currently considered an important channel for industrial changing and renewal of the economic system. Among the initiatives finalised to stimulate their diffusion, the proposition of start-up competitions (SUCs) is obtaining an increasing recognition among policy-makers. Despite SUCs are becoming more widespread, there is a gap in literature about the social and economic advantages provided by them as well as how they actually work. Also a comprehensive and systematic overview of SUCs is currently missing. With this in mind, the paper aims at presenting an explorative analysis of Italian SUCs phenomenon in order to provide an overview of their main characteristics and of the potential impact on the territorial context. This deepening is necessary to support the diffusion of such SUCs, but also preparatory for the creation of a suitable ecosystem to improve the processes of business start-up. Overall, 77 SUCs were analyzed on the basis of different classification criteria (geographical coverage and distribution, funding institutions, number of stages and duration, type of prizes, etc). The findings show that the diffusion of SUCs is accompanied from an evolutionary process of deep changes, which can be interpreted as a consequence of the growing private organizations interest in promoting such initiatives.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11367/54116
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact