Innovation may scale globally, but it always starts somewhere
In the 1980s a term began circulating in Japan: dochakuka.
Later it would be translated into something more familiar: glocalization.
The idea is simple but powerful.
Think globally, remain rooted locally.
Over the past months some people have asked us a fair question: if the Club degli Investitori is increasingly international, does it still make sense to publish a research report on the startup ecosystem of a single city like Turin?
Our answer is yes — precisely for that reason.
The Club was born in Turin, but today our members invest across Italy and internationally. We are present in London, across Europe and in the United States. Many of the companies we support compete in global markets from day one.
But innovation ecosystems do not appear out of nowhere.
They grow in specific places: universities, research centers, entrepreneurial communities, and networks of people who collaborate long before companies become visible on the international stage.
Global success often begins with very local foundations.
Studying the Turin ecosystem is therefore not an exercise in local pride. It is a way to understand how innovation actually develops: which sectors are emerging, where capital is flowing, which institutions are helping new companies grow, and where the system still needs to evolve.
For investors, founders and policymakers alike, this kind of analysis matters.
Because strong ecosystems are not built by accident. They are built by communities that observe themselves, learn from their own dynamics and continuously adapt.
This is the purpose of the Ricerca sulle Startup e il Sistema dell’Innovazione a Torino.
Not simply to produce a snapshot of a city, but to create a tool for understanding how a local ecosystem connects with global innovation.
International ambition and local awareness are not opposites.
They are two sides of the same strategy.
If you want companies capable of competing globally, you must start by strengthening the places where they are born.
