Italian space economy hits record, with revenues up 12.3%

Italy’s space economy continues to expand and in 2024 (the latest full year available) reached a new all-time high: more than €4.5 billion in revenue and over 15,000 employees, growing by 12.3% and 5.6% respectively compared to the previous year. These results emerge from SEEData, the database developed by the Space Economy Evolution Lab (SEE Lab) at SDA Bocconi, which monitors more than 400 Italian companies in the sector.

Growth is being driven by major industrial groups, which are securing record contracts and investments, while small and medium-sized enterprises continue to strengthen their position.

However, rising revenues have not been matched by equally significant job creation: very large companies recorded only a 3.8% increase in employees, down from the 6.4% average over the previous three years. This points to growth strategies focused on efficiency and internal reorganization rather than workforce expansion.

The historical analysis of employment trends for 2020 and 2021 is affected by the freeze on layoffs (and, by rebound, also in 2022), but the trends described remain unchanged when compared with 2023 data.

Sector trends and dynamics

• Microenterprises: +60% in revenues, driven by the emergence of new players and strong performance from existing ones.
• Very large companies: +13.5% in revenues, accounting for 75% of the sector’s total increase.
• Multisectorality: companies dedicated exclusively to space are growing faster (+15.9%) than multisector firms (+7.1%).
• Profitability: EBITDA remains stable and solid at 10.7% in 2024, a slight increase from 10.5% in 2023.

Numbers and data are the foundation for studying developments in the space economy. This is why the SEE Lab at SDA Bocconi has built a proprietary, rigorous, and constantly evolving database: a tool designed to provide partners with solid insights and credible decisions. The data are clear: Italy is accelerating toward a position of global leadership.

Italy’s space economy is showing structural expansion, creating the conditions for new investments and strategic partnerships at both national and European levels. The challenge now is to turn revenue growth into stable employment and strengthen the entire ecosystem by fostering specialization in key segments.

What SEEData is

SEEData, organized into dedicated samples for various European and non-European countries, maps non fully State-owned entities linked to the space economy and expands its geographic coverage year after year.

SEEData includes more than 400 Italian space-economy companies, classifying them by their position in the value chain, the nature of their business, their size, and their degree of multisectorality. The Lab is extending the project to several European countries considered sector champions, with the aim of offering a more complete and comparative view of the market.

In a rapidly developing sector like the space economy, SEEData is a unique tool created by the SEE Lab to continuously analyze industry dynamics. By combining economic data with interpretative assessments, it identifies trends as indicators of broader structural changes. This advanced perspective provides concrete support to institutions and industry players as they make strategic decisions.
Company sizes follow European definitions (micro, small, medium, large), with an additional category (“very large”) for firms with more than 1,000 employees or €1 billion in revenue.

The degree of multisectorality distinguishes between companies operating exclusively in space and multisector firms with partial activity in the field. Its theoretical and practical framework is regularly updated to better capture the space-related supply chain and measure its contribution, increasingly including companies from other sectors whose business models rely on space technologies, applications, and services.