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28 October 2022

How to create an innovative startup? – The winning strategy in just a few steps

Introduction


In Italy, an innovative startup is a new, unlisted and

established for no more than 5 years
.
A main characteristic is definitely the high technological content preceded by the creative and feasible business idea.

When is a startup innovative?

To be considered as such, the new enterprise must have the following 3 requirements (source Ministry of Economic Development):

  • incurs R&D expenses of at least 15 percent of the greater of cost and total value of production;
  • employs highly qualified staff (at least 1/3 PhDs, PhD students or researchers, or at least 2/3 with master’s degrees);
  • Holds, files or licenses at least one patent or owns registered software.

Few steps to establish a startup

The first step in setting up a creative enterprise is to have an idea that is feasible, innovative and long-lasting. Underlying this is a simple logic:the new startup must provide innovative answers to real problems.

After forming the team (professionals with different skills), it is necessary to find a business model and do aSWOT analysis to understand strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The search for funding that will help the startup can be done through different channels: Crowdfunding, Business angel, Venture Capital startup, Bank Loans, Public Calls and Horizon 20.

Choosing the company model (e.g., LLC), using validation board to be tested with feedback from early customers, and finally choosing the right user experience will be the last steps of running-in for the newly conceived innovative startup.

A growing trend

The phenomenon of innovative startups is also increasing in our country: there were 14,032 as of Oct. 1, 540 more than in the second quarter of 2021 (+3.3 percent, source: Ministry of Economic Development-Mise).

Globally between 2020 and 2021 there are about 936 companies with animplied valuation of more than $1 billion in financing-some of these found in Africa, Latin America, and Turkey.

One factor that has contributed to the growth of as-yet unrealized creative ideas is surely to be found in the worldwide improvement in the level of digitization used more professionally by both consumers and businesses.

The world of female startups

Some scientific studies claim that women are better at identifying market needs and seizing opportunities is perhaps why the focus on startuppers is, albeit slowly, growing.

In Italy, the following was launched in 2022 FoundHER – We find her, we fund her a 5-month dedicated women’s entrepreneurship program that includes mentoring, workshops, access to Plug and Play’s global network consisting of more than 530 corporate partners, industry experts, venture capital firms, universities, governments and research centers active in multiple industries and opportunities to use office space in Plug and Play’s Italian offices (Milan and Modena).

This program has involved as partners Angels4Women, GammaDonna, SheTech , and UniCredit Start Lab i.e., some of the companies that have been actively engaged in reducing the gender gap in the business, professional, and technological world for years.