Innovation is not enough. The scale-up challenge for Italian cleantech and blue economy start-ups

The Italian cleantech and blue economy start-up landscape is vibrant and innovative, but it struggles to grow its companies and therefore risks falling behind. This is highlighted by research from the Blue Economy Monitor (a SDA Bocconi/Banca Intesa initiative), conducted by Francesco Perrini, Manlio De Silvio and Stefano Pogutz, on the cleantech sector—that is, the set of technologies and application-based solutions that address global environmental challenges, with a particular focus on the ecological transition and decarbonization—and the blue economy.

Italy starts from a position of leadership: it is the second-largest European market for environmental goods and services and among the leading countries in Europe in the maritime economy. It has expertise, industrial supply chains, and a lively entrepreneurial ecosystem (485 innovative start-ups mapped in the cleantech and blue economy sectors), but it struggles to turn these resources into scalable companies capable of competing globally. And in a fast-moving global market, this risks becoming a structural limitation.

Two meta-sectors

Cleantech and the blue economy are not traditional sectors, but cross-cutting “meta-sectors” spanning energy, manufacturing, agriculture, mobility, and services. Precisely because of this complex nature, measuring their size and dynamics has so far been difficult. The authors of the research, therefore, followed an innovation-focused approach: they built an original taxonomy to identify start-ups truly active in cleantech and the blue economy, going beyond traditional statistical classifications.

The research questions start from here:

• How much does cleantech really weigh in the Italian economy?
• What role do start-ups play in the sustainable transition?
• In which technological areas is innovation concentrated?
• Why do Italian start-ups struggle more to grow than their international competitors?

The authors built an original dataset: 485 innovative Italian start-ups active in the ecological transition, equal to about 4% of the country’s entire innovative start-up ecosystem. The sample consists of 84% cleantech start-ups, 13% hybrid companies (cleantech + blue economy), and 3% start-ups focused exclusively on the blue economy.

The analysis shows a young, dynamic, and highly diversified ecosystem, distributed across the entire sustainability value chain.

Where innovation is concentrated

The most significant cluster is energy (30% of start-ups), with solutions ranging from green hydrogen and advanced renewables to innovative storage systems. This is followed by digital enabling technologies (27%), such as AI and IoT; the circular economy and resource management (18%); sustainable mobility (9%); agritech (8%); and advanced materials and green chemistry (7%).

This distribution tells us that innovation is not concentrated in a few areas, but spread across sectors, a sign of a system that has developed broad and complementary expertise.

The macro figures reinforce this interpretation. In recent years, the environmental goods and services sector has recorded very strong growth, and Italy has consolidated its position as one of Europe’s leading players: it is now the EU’s second-largest market by production value, with about 215 billion euros and significant growth even in the most recent period. This figure confirms the presence of an already broad and competitive industrial base on which to build start-up innovation.

The blue economy, too, is a major strategic asset. Italy’s supply chain generates more than 216 billion euros in overall value and employs about 1.1 million people, with growth dynamics above the national economy’s average. These numbers place the sea and the technologies connected to it among the potential pillars of the country’s sustainable transition.

A limit to overcome

The critical issue emerges when moving from company creation to scale-up. Most start-ups are still in an early stage: more than 40% have revenues below 100,000 euros, and almost 40% have fewer than five employees. This is a natural figure for a young ecosystem, but international comparison reveals a serious gap.

Compared with France and Germany, Italy mobilizes less venture capital. In European cleantech, for example, the country accounts for about 4% of deals, compared with 23% for Germany and 18% for France. The gap widens further compared with the United States and China, because in the U.S. the combination of abundant venture capital and a large domestic market accelerates growth, while in China industrial scale and active policies make it possible to develop entire supply chains in much shorter time frames. The result is that many Italian start-ups remain stuck in the early stage, unable to become industrial players.

A window that is closing

This limitation is made even more urgent by the fact that global competition is consolidating rapidly. China, for example, controls between 40% and 95% of global production capacity in key green technologies such as batteries and photovoltaics. Those that do not scale today risk being left out tomorrow.

Managers and public decision-makers should therefore make growth the absolute priority, shaping their action around four strategic priorities identified by the research.

• Increase the ability to access European funds. Italy is still underrepresented in EU programs. New initiatives, such as the Scale-up Europe Fund of more than one billion euros, offer significant opportunities, but require stronger project-design skills and support structures.
• Mobilize capital for growth. Venture capital needs to be strengthened in the scale-up phases, and corporate venture capital needs to be developed. Large companies can play a key role, offering not only funding but also access to infrastructure and markets.
• Build an internationalization strategy. Italian start-ups must move beyond national borders. Soft-landing programs, the attraction of foreign capital, and international networking are essential to compete on a global scale.
• Invest in human capital and skills. The green transition requires new skills: clean technologies, circular economy, fund management, project financing. Without talent, innovation does not scale.

Italy has a strong industrial base, a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, and recognized areas of excellence, but time is a critical variable. The competitive window is narrowing, and the challenge today is no longer about the ability to innovate, but about the speed with which innovation can be turned into industry. And the window to do so is narrowing.

Francesco Perrini, Manlio De Silvio and Stefano Pogutz. Il ruolo delle start-up nei settori del Cleantech e della Blue Economy in Italia (in Italian).