Bari: Discover The Startup Scene In Italy’s South

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Italy's south has a lot to offer besides its beaches and sea. Let's dive into one startup community in particular: Bari. Find out where to work, where to meet people and where to get your funds here:

Bari, the second largest city of Southern Italy, is capital of the Puglia region, located on the Adriatic Sea. As a very prominent seaport, Bari is more than 5,000 square kilometers in size and its ports face the Adriatic Sea and connect to other Adriatic ports using railways, boat and roadways. Bari has become one of the top commercial and industrial leaders in Italy. People have come to know Bari as ‘California of the South’, which is a title given to the city for its amazing growth and leadership compared to others.

Startup Areas In The South: Bari

In performing the analysis on the potential of Bari, I do not limit myself to analyze only the city, but I will extend my analysis to the whole territory of Puglia.

Advantages Of Starting A Startup In Bari:

  • Tourism, and in particular sea. Certainly when you refer to Puglia, it is the first thing that comes to mind. And it has a “reputation” based since the Apulian tourism sector is the first in Italy and among the top in the world, with 687,215 foreign tourists in 2015 (increase of 9.2% compared to + 3% of the Italian media – ISTAT).The forecasts for 2020 worldwide are more than positive and consolidate the six years of excellent growth of all the indicators provided by the WTTC. In the global scenario trudging few Mediterranean destinations, especially on the southern shores – Egypt and Tunisia – and Italy, where from 2010 to 2015 there has been a reduction in investments and public spending by 27% and 10%. Good employment forecasts with estimated growth rates of between 5 and 9% for the four macro areas [see the report in 2015 the region’s territory].
  • Bari is considered “the cities of the Levant.” It has always had close economic, cultural and social and the port of Bari is traditionally considered Europe’s door to the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East, is a multipurpose airport able to meet all operational requirements. Among the principal of the Adriatic Sea, the port of Bari in 2012 it handled about 2.0 million passengers, of which approximately 650,000 cruise passengers.If you analyze the countries to which the province of Bari exports, emerges as the major trading partners of the province in 2010 are all European countries: Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and the UK receiving almost 60% of exports from Bari. Comparing the composition of the panel of geographical areas, it shows that, compared to 2001, Germany has almost halved imports of Bari products (-41%). Even more obvious is the decline in exports to the United States (-85%), which in 2001 were the second largest outlet of goods Bari, while in 2010 include ninth.Between 2001 and 2010, also decreased exports to the United Kingdom (-54%), even though, among the mature economies, we highlight the increase in exports to Switzerland (+ 9% in 1614, France (+ 27%) the and Spain (+ 61%)), while among the emerging markets, it highlights the umenti exports to Poland (+ 164%) and Turkey (+ 130%) [2013 data].
  • Positioning of the made in Italy and Puglia as synonym of quality 100%
  • Apulia produces a quantity of electricity of 31,230 GWh, due to an installed capacity of 6,100 MW (as of 2004), approximately twice its energy needs, and about one-ninth of the total national consumption, thanks to the central on their territory, concentrated in particular in the city of Brindisi. Nevertheless, there is an increasing amount produced mainly from renewable sources, especially wind energy. 300 MW of power obtained from wind turbines already installed in the Gargano, it will add another 40 in the new wind farm of Troy, as well as 36 of the Surbiton Park (LE), began operation in March 2007 (by avoiding the emission 51,000 tons of CO2 per year), plus a number of smaller parks in other municipalities of the provinces, to reach the estimated production of 1600 MW. In 2010 Puglia has produced 25% of Italian wind energy and 14% of photovoltaics.
  • Leader in innovative technology: there are different examples of Apulian start ups that have managed to emerge in the branch of technology, in which Puglia and Puglia now excel at national and European level. Here are some examples:

What Startup Founders Have To Consider:

  • Unemployment rate of 12.5% (+ 3% compared to the Italian average): The number of employed in the average for the year was lower by 1.3 percent compared to 2013. Employment is however increased among graduates while recorded a further decline among individuals with lower levels of education. Employment difficulties of young people affected the propensionea to emigrate than the years before the crisis. In particular, the incidence of migration abroad of graduates has doubled.
  • Relative stagnation of investments: during 2009-2013 the rate of investment of Apulian companies (ratio of investment in tangible assets and turnover at book value) was on average of 6.7 percent, almost two percentage points lower than the pre-crisis period (2002-07). The decline involved firms of all size classes in a substantially undifferentiated (Puglia Economy Report of the Bank of Italy). However they can easily exploit all the other investment sources in the national territory and simultaneously make use of the previously mentioned advantages.

Puglia, thanks to its commercial vocation and its historical ability in some segments of manufacturing, has always been – from the sixties onwards – a character far from irrelevant in foreign markets. With globalization, which since the early nineties he has given a significant acceleration in international trade and has modified the structure of the international manufacturing.

Bari’s Upcoming Community Is Waiting For You

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Startups community in the Puglia region is strong push rise by more and more young people who come to this world. The ideas focus on the one hand on the revaluation of Apulia (eg. Land2Lend and Pescaria) and the latest technology (Ecce Customer, GP Renewable and BLACKSHAPE AIRCRAFT). The credit must be sought on the one hand in the presence of many events dedicated to the world of startups organized by co-working space, and private universities, and the other in the strong dynamism and desire to emerge of the Apulian people in relation to the constant “rivalry” with northern Italy.

Major Place & Institutions Of Innovation For Ideas:

Regular Events & Meetups:

Yearly Or Major Events, Festivals, Conferences:

Co-working Spaces In The Heart Of Bari

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Co-working spaces are born recently in this area and are run by very young and dynamic people. LaCapagrossa Co-working space is managed by the municipality of Bari, while others are private.

Co-working Spaces In Bari:

  • LaCapagrossa Co-working: co-working space managed by municipity of ruvo di Puglia, near Bari.
  • Impact Hub Bari: The strengths of their areas: the reliability of the structure, the availability of a community of more than 150 professionals, adaptability to individual needs, the large parking lot to the fairgrounds, the steady hosting service and the possibility use external and internal communication channels.
  • Spazio 14: SPAZIO14 is an efficient co-working as an office and welcoming as a house. Offers work spaces in open space, closed offices fully furnished meeting room and classroom courses, all in the city center. Take advantage of their kitchenette to prepare a coffee or fresh orange juice, or relax in the relaxation specially made, also to welcome your guests for small informal briefings. And you have a green thumb, help us to make even more our lush green balcony, also dedicated to the bio. They offer secured wifi, water, electricity, heating and cooling, cleaning.
  • Percorsi Up Arte: They branch out and intertwine in projects involving multiple cultural backgrounds – from publishing, organization of events, from the audio communication – working in synergy with public and private entities, national and international. Ideal especially if you are looking for innovative ideas in marketing and communication for their own startup.
  • Laboratori dal Basso: initiative dedicated to young people who want to learn to do business according to the principles of social, economic and environmental.

Where To Get Funding In Bari

Bari_guide_financing.

Incubators:

Accelerators:

Angel Investors:

Crowdfunding Platforms:

  • IndieGoGo allows you to accumulate funds and, although it has not reached the ceiling required, you can also use the funds obtained.
  • crowdfunder is a real social network with about 20,000 registered users (companies, entrepreneurs, financiers) and allows you to raise funds in various ways.
  • Eppela allow the financing of projects in the creative industries art, design, music, cinema, innovation, technology, comics, fashion, nonprofit, writing, social.
  • Starteed, founded in 2011 by Claudio Bedino, allows the inventor not only to raise funds for their projects, but also to find supporters for the stages of development and sales, even giving the possibility to sell the finished product on the same platform.
  • SiamoSoci allows the founders to find business angels, venture capitalis or private investors interested in their idea.
  • Produzioni dal basso is a free platform that offers a space to all those who want to propose their projects for funding.

Need More Advice? Ask Bari’s Experts!

Bari_mentors

Useful links (in order to read in the better way, you can translate this articles with google translate or you can directy ask to me for details. I’m available for every questions about them):

In general it is necessary to emphasize the desire of young people to engage in entrepreneurship Apulian world and startups. Italy and above all have a great desire to emerge, to develop ideas, to be an integral part of the change of the economic system changes. Currently, it is being “waiting” in the sense that it is always open to new ideas and to get involved.

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Last updated: August 25th, 2016

The guides are like startup communities – they constantly change and grow. Make sure to check for updates and if you have something to add or want to publish one for your city, get in touch right away! And don’t forget to enrich the startup ecosystem by creating your company profile at StartUs!

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