Working Paper No. 16/2025 of the Department of Economics and Business Sciences of the University of Florence is now online. It was produced by the University in collaboration with the Digital Innovation Hub Toscana of the Confindustria System, as part of THE Tuscany Health Ecosystem.
The research analyzes the characteristics and trends of innovative startups in the Life Sciences sector, highlighting strengths, critical issues, and prospects for collaboration between companies, research, and innovation actors.
Some policy proposals are included at the end of the document. Strengthening the existing entrepreneurial fabric and supporting industrial research are prerequisites for the development of innovation in Tuscany. This is accompanied by the need to improve managerial skills in startups and spinoffs and the ability to create a network between the various regional players, based on the model of THE Tuscany Health Ecosystem.
In this regard, technology transfer plays a central role, promoting the cross-fertilization of academic knowledge and business knowledge, also by enhancing and building on what has already been achieved with the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) and European programs, through the networks of highly specialized Competence Centers and Digital Innovation Hubs promoted by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, and strengthening the “third mission” as a lever for territorial development.
The research was also presented at THE’s closing event, entitled meet THE innovation (Florence, October 28-29, 2025).
