The Start-up "system" in italy: support activities of the operators through an empirical analysis

Italian SMEs have often been the focus of attention of institutions, financial intermediaries and the media. More recently, interest has been turned to start-ups and innovative businesses with a series of legislative interventions. The empirical study, conducted through a questionnaire given to a few incubators/accelerators, venture capital operators and business angels, confirmed that the situation is, on the whole, still developing and is still a long way from having consolidated and definitive structures and practices in place. The operators involved highlighted, on one side, an activity which is growing quite fast, even if the behaviours and modus operandi are different, and, on the other side, the relevance of co-investment operations, networking activity and cooperation in general, together with a constant and adequate stock of financial resources to permanently allocate to this type of companies.