Italian startups supporting young people

Very often it is taken for granted that there are few Italian startups, but this is a false cliché. Even before the Covid emergency, there were 10,882 of them registered in Italy, while the latest statistical reports, dating back to June 2022, indicate as many as 14,362 present in the Italian territory. 

A large part of these young businesses resides in Lombardy: 3,885, or 27.0 percent of the national total, and the main province where they are located is precisely Milan. This is followed by Latium with 1,729 companies (12.0 percent of the total), Campania with 1,317 startups (9.2 percent), Emilia Romagna (1,086, 7.6 percent of the national total), Veneto with 1,081 (7.5 percent) and Piedmont with 777 (5.4 percent). Basilicata with 146 startups (1.0 percent), Molise with 81 (0.6 percent) and Valle d’Aosta with 21 (0.2 percent) are at the tail end.

Trentino-Alto Adige is the region with the highest incidence of innovative startups,

in relation to the total number of corporations, with less than five years old and five million in annual turnover.

In recent years, several start-ups have been created with the aim of helping young people to face their future, together with several other young companies related to the hi-tech world, fashion, research and development and retail.

Let’s look together at 4 Italian startups supporting young people.

Start2impact

Start2impact is an Italian startup that aims to train young people in the digital field. They do not call themselves a state-recognized university but rather as an ideal evolution of the world of education. 

Start2impact teaches young people subjects that neither school nor university teach; to pursue careers and fill positions that in the future (but many already now) will be increasingly demanded by companies and employers. 

Start2impact offers courses in Digital Marketing, UX-UI Design, Web Developing, Blockchain and Data Science but does not offer their own theoretical training. 

In fact, their guides are taken from the best sites and blogs on the web (mostly in English) because, as stated by Founder Gherardo Liguori and Co-Founder Virginia Tosti, by now the online already offers for free all the theoretical training needed to approach these fields. 

Instead, their goal is to allow young people to put into practice what they have learned through personal projects, that will be viewed, corrected and evaluated (with a personal evaluation) one by one, by the platform’s tutors (professionals in the field).

Habacus

Habacus is an Italian startup composed of a team of young professionals with cross-cutting and complementary skills. As they state, the goal of the project is to promote the empowerment and employability of young people by facilitating students in orienting their educational choices and in accessing financial resources to support their study paths, in any field and from a life-long learning perspective.

Habacus is thus a social impact entity that supports post-diploma education and uses data to support and connect students, educational institutions, private finance, public institutions, and companies. 

Futurely

Futurely is another innovative Italian new venture whose goal is to help young people who have just graduated from high school discover and face their future. 

It is a real school orientation platform, digital, personalized and guided, focused entirely on self-discovery and the options available after high school.

Futurely assists students in choosing a university and in the realization of their future through a digital paid path. In this way students develop awareness of themselves, their passions and skills, helping them make a clear and precise post-high school choice.

Factory 2030

Finally, we highlight Factory2030, a project of PHOENIX Factory & Partners that aims to support the emergence of youth initiatives in line with the 2030 Sustainability Goals.

The Sustainable Development Goals-the SDGs in English-as stated by PHOENIX Factory & Partners, are a set of 17 interconnected goals defined by the United Nations as a strategy “to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” 

The objectives involved are:

  • no poverty 
  • zero hunger 
  • good health 
  • quality education 
  • gender equality 
  • clean water 
  • clean energy
  • decent work
  • industry & innovation
  • reduced inequalities 
  • sustainable cities 
  • responsible consumption 
  • climate action
  • life below water 
  • life on land 
  • peace & justice 
  • partnership for goals

PHOENIX Factory is a community of young people from all over Italy, present in as many as 48 different cities, which was born precisely from the desire to create a network of young people for young people, capable of promoting the birth of innovative initiatives with the 2030 sustainability goals. Their aim is to become a foundation that supports young people who have the will and courage to develop their own project.

In addition to this, they offer them a series of online training paths, all non-profit and free of charge.

Conclusion

We saw together 4 super innovative realities in support of young people who, thanks to their original initiatives, help young people to face their university career, to receive the best training in the digital field and to finance their innovative projects and initiatives. 

So, the Italian startup scene is definitely in line with the European market and offers young people different possibilities to grow and support their educational and professional future.

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