Despite the wide heterogeneity of sources and methodologies, all the data on investments in startups tell us about a rapidly growing sector, especially in recent years. Developing synergies with the world of startups becomes a way to oversee innovation in some rapidly expanding areas - eg: sustainability, smartworking, e-commerce - and then adapt and integrate it to your core business. Over the last 20 years, the number of innovative startups present in the country has grown almost constantly. In the second quarter of 2021, therefore in June, there were over 13,500, an almost double presence in the last 4 years. Not only that: their specific weight within the broader family of new joint-stock companies has also increased regularly: a sign of the fact that setting up an innovative startup in our country is increasingly coveted, but (perhaps) also easier and more convenient. . On closer inspection, it is the entire innovation ecosystem that has been able to thrive with a certain continuity, even through the pandemic. If you zoom in on the time line in correspondence with the most critical phase of the pandemic and compare the data of June 2021 with those of December 2019, there is not only an increase in the number of startups and in the value of overall production, but also a increase of other innovation actors, such as innovative SMEs and incubators. In terms of investments, 2019 had recorded a total amount of capital invested in startups of 723 million. Today, in the first half of 2021 and after a 2020 marked by stability (729), the sector is back to running: 661 million (+ 155% compared to the same period of the previous year). At the end of the year, we could exceed one billion. In this text we want to analyze the ecosystem of startups in Italy and also understand its criticalities. We will also see the contribution that the PNNR can make to the development of startups in Italy.