France-Italy START The network of cross-border incubators in the space of the Maritime PO
The evaluation panel of the EU Commission on Innovation 2015 reveals that the global innovation level of EU countries has remained stable. However, the crisis has left a mark on innovation in the private sector; the number of innovative companies, venture capital investments and patent applications as well as the propensity of innovative SMEs to go international are in decline. The common challenge that the partners intend to face is to create a fertile context for the creation of innovative transnational startups able to position themselves firmly on the area, promoting their propensity for innovation and cross-border and global collaboration. The Maritime Programme area constitutes an average ecosystem for dynamic innovation (EU Reports rank France as an Innovation Follower and Italy as a Modest Innovator). Its growth needs new common/shared policies by innovation facilitators and improved innovation standards for startups and SMEs (92% of local businesses) to make them more competitive on the global market. A partnership of major local players in innovation/business creation will carry out the project. Their objective is to create a network of Quality Label Maritime IT_FR certified business incubators. Their main output will be a platform of cross-border/integrated incubation services for the support of innovative startups looking for partners/customers/financiers to accelerate their entry/growth in the global market. The achievement of this objective will require the analysis and benchmarking of the incubation centres, the study of the startups' innovation needs and business opportunities and their comparison with similar EU enterprises. These will constitute the underlying context on which to build the services catalogue, which will be tested on startups selected according to their cross-border business plan.