Undersecretary stresses support for innovative startups

(AGI) Rome, Jul 12 - Establishing a startup company will be much easier as of 20 July, when it will be possible to do it online at no cost with a digital signature and thereby save up to 2,000 euros. It was a theme discussed at Universitas Mercatorum during the presentation of Danilo Iervolino's book "Just press start (up) - Dall'idea all'impresa". The Undersecretary of State for Economic Development, Antonio Gentile, spoke about the next steps the Ministry of Economic Development will undertake in order to support this sector. "It is essential that regional and ministerial structures work together to efficiently fund and oversee investment spending," he said. "The government developed a legal framework in the last three years to support the creation of an ecosystem capable of attracting international flows of human and financial capital while at the same time promoting within itself the free circulation of knowledge and talents," added Mr Gentile. "Innovative companies often lead an isolated life and it is a problem." The "startup phenomenon" is massive with over 6,000 innovative companies, according to what the ministry's register defines as such. Six hundred and eighty companies of the 6,000 above were allocated a total of 200 million euro in public investment via Invitalia, the Ministry of Economy's National Agency for inward investment and economic development, and its 'Smart and start' programme. "We have evaluated over 2,400 projects," Bernardo Mattarella from Invitalia explained, "and we only financed 680 companies, the ones that passed our project quality and soundness test. They created 3,000 new jobs, with 76 per cent of them going to university graduates.". .