LAZIO INNOVA - SOCIETA PER AZIONI

Their core work

Lazio Innova is the regional innovation and economic development agency of the Lazio region (Rome), operating as a private company owned by the regional government. They provide business support services to SMEs — including technology transfer, innovation management coaching, internationalization assistance, and access-to-finance guidance — primarily through the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). They also run programs connecting space data, geodata, and digital entrepreneurship with regional businesses and startups, acting as a bridge between EU research ecosystems and the local SME fabric.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2014-2017), Lazio Innova focused heavily on direct SME coaching — innovation management assessments, KAM services, and technology transfer through EEN instruments like SCRIpT and the first ELSE SIM rounds. They also launched their most ambitious project (TWIST DIGITAL) in digital entrepreneurship. By the later period (2018-2021), the coaching work continued but broadened: keywords shifted toward access to finance, business angels, IPR, and spin-off/spin-in support, reflecting a move from basic innovation assessments toward more sophisticated financial and commercialization services. The space sector emerged as a distinct new track with SpaceUp.

Lazio Innova is evolving from generalist SME coaching toward specialized startup support in space tech and deepening its financial advisory services for research commercialization.

How they like to work

Lazio Innova overwhelmingly participates as a partner rather than leading — they coordinated only 1 of 10 projects. Their 94 unique partners across 19 countries indicate a broad, non-repetitive network typical of EEN nodes that rotate consortium memberships by funding round. They are a reliable regional delivery partner: they bring local SME access, coaching infrastructure, and on-the-ground business support rather than research capacity.

With 94 unique partners across 19 countries, Lazio Innova has a wide but shallow European network — characteristic of EEN membership where partner sets rotate with each new contract period. Their geographic base in Rome gives them strong ties to Italian and Southern European innovation ecosystems.

What sets them apart

Lazio Innova sits at a distinctive intersection: a regional government-backed agency with private-company agility, operating in Rome — one of Europe's densest concentrations of research institutions and space agencies (ESA-ESRIN is in the Lazio region). Their combination of EEN coaching infrastructure with space-sector startup support is uncommon. For consortium builders, they offer ready access to Lazio's SME base and a credible channel for dissemination and business engagement activities in Central Italy.

Highlights from their portfolio

• TWIST DIGITAL
  Their only coordinated project and largest single grant (EUR 339,438), focused on transregional digital entrepreneurship accelerators — shows their peak ambition and leadership capacity.
• FabSpace 2.0
  Unique combination of fab labs, geodata, and university co-creation for space data innovation — their most technically distinctive project.
• SpaceUp
  Significant budget (EUR 179,812) connecting ESA-BIC, Copernicus/Galileo ecosystems with startup incubation — positions them in the growing European space economy.