Startups and innovation in Sicily in 2026: hubs, calls and money

Most of my work for this site is about desks: where they are, what they cost, whether the wifi holds. But a growing share of the emails I get come from people who want more than a desk. They're founders, or thinking about it, and they want to know whether Sicily has anything to plug into.

In 2026 the honest answer changed. The Region has funded 16 incubators and accelerators this year, and several calls for startups are open right now. At the same time, some names that still appear in older guides have gone quiet or closed. Here's what I could verify in early November 2026, and what I couldn't.

Open Innovation Sicilia: the most useful thing for founders right now

The measure behind most of 2026's news is the "Open Innovation Sicilia" call, approved by DDG n. 1843 of 8 July 2025 under the regional ERDF programme (PR FESR Sicilia 2021–2027, Action 1.1.3) and run by the Dipartimento Attività Produttive. It put over €9 million into hubs, incubators and accelerators.

How it unfolded:

• 20–21 July 2026, final ranking. 18 applications, 16 eligible projects. Together they asked for about €12.8 million against €9 million available, so a place in the ranking didn't automatically mean full funding.
• 23 October 2026, money for companies. The Region announced €7,176,469.27 for startups and SMEs that join the hubs' programmes: €4,327,317 in aid to the companies (about 60%) and €2,849,152.27 for the hubs' structures and services. Of the 16 hubs, 15 offer acceleration and 6 incubation. By location: 7 in Catania, 3 in Palermo, 2 in Messina, 2 in Ragusa, 1 in Trapani and 1 split between Palermo and Messina. Smart cities and communities get the largest share (over €2.3 million), then agrifood (about €1.97 million), then environment, blue economy, life sciences, energy and cultural tourism. Micro and small businesses, startups and aspiring entrepreneurs are all eligible.
• 26 October 2026, calls published. Thirteen hubs have published their calls for startups on their own websites.

The other three funded projects (ELIS's Ragusa Innovation Lab, Banca Agricola Popolare di Sicilia's S.E.M.E. and Entopan's PIVOT Sicily) weren't in the 26 October list of published calls.

What I didn't do: open each of the thirteen calls. Deadlines, amounts per startup and whether you need a registered office in Sicily are set by each operator, so read the call itself before you plan around it. One small discrepancy for the record: the first-ranked project, BI-REX's SiLIFE, is reported with a score of 80/82 by Innovation Island and 88/90 by MF.

Isola Catania: a coworking that is also a funded hub

I already list Isola Catania in the coworking directory as one of the cheapest good desks in Sicily: €12 for a day pass and from €160 a month for a hot desk (official site, November 2026). It sits in Palazzo Biscari, by the port, and opened in June 2021; its founder and president is Antonio Perdichizzi.

What's new is that Isola is now one of the 16 funded hubs. Its accelerator, Naturae, is about environment and regeneration and requested €874,930. The call is open on Isola's site. The public agenda also lists a "Forum sull'economia sociale – Sicilia che Innova" on 17 November 2026 at 10:30.

For a newcomer, this is the easiest door into the Catania scene: you can work there for €12 and meet the people running a programme. Isola was also at Catania's Tavolo dell'Innovazione on 25 March 2026, convened by Mayor Enrico Trantino and the University of Catania's Rector, Enrico Foti. The other organisations around that table give you a fair map of who's active in the city: Free Mind Foundry (Acireale), Le Village, Confindustria Catania, CNA, TIM Innovation Lab, STMicroelectronics, Nict-Nacht, TEDx Catania and Archimede. More on daily life in the city is in the Catania guide and on the Catania page.

Palermo: PATIC and the Zisa

PATIC – Palermo Technology Innovation Center was launched on 31 March 2026 at the Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa. It's promoted by Sispi, the City of Palermo's IT company, with regional funding. Its first initiative was an acceleration programme run with Zest and SkillforEquity, announced for 10 Sicilian startups, free and without equity.

At the Selection Day on 16 June 2026, the selectors chose 20 startups from more than 50 applications from across Sicily, double the number announced in March (BlogSicilia). The names weren't published in that article, and I found no date for an investor day.

The city's innovation councillor, Fabrizio Ferrandelli, also spoke at Forum PA in June 2026 of a "Hub Innovation Palermo" at the Zisa with an incubator. The Bravo Innovation Hub, which opened in the same complex in September 2023 with about 20 startup workstations, shows no 2026 activity I could find, so I treat it as uncertain. If you want to work near this cluster, Cre.Zi. Plus is inside the Cantieri, though its desk prices date from 2023. The Palermo page covers the rest of the city.

What closed or went quiet

• Consorzio ARCA, the University of Palermo's incubator founded in 2003, was reportedly put into liquidation in December 2022, when it was incubating 12 startups. This comes from a single secondary source, and the consortium's website blocked my check, so the status is unconfirmed. Don't count on it as an active incubator.
• Digital Magics Palermo opened in 2016; its local web address now redirects to the national site. I treat it as inactive locally.
• Startup Weekend Catania and similar events: the last coverage I found is from 2016–2018.

StartCup Sicilia: the university route

StartCup Sicilia federates the business-plan competitions of the universities of Palermo, Catania, Messina and Kore Enna, and sends its finalists to the national PNI. The 2026 regional final was on 22 October in Palermo, at UniCredit's Sicilian regional headquarters. I couldn't find the winner. The local rounds feed into it: Start Cup Catania's 2026 deadline was 26 August, with the top three going to the regional final, and Start Cup Palermo asked for teams of at least two people with at least one Sicilian resident (both details from search previews of the calls, not the full documents). These are for next year now, but if you're moving here and know a researcher or student, they're a real way in.

National money: what's actually active

Invitalia runs the two national schemes most relevant to a founder in Sicily. Both were listed as active when I checked on 4 November 2026.

Don't confuse them with ON – Oltre Nuove imprese a tasso zero: Invitalia says its grant funds ran out and only the zero-interest loan remains from 1 July 2026. Rules change and the conditions are long, so confirm eligibility with a commercialista (accountant) before you apply. The incentives guide has the regional schemes for new residents too.

STMicroelectronics: context, not a hiring promise

The "Etna Valley" name comes from the microelectronics cluster around STMicroelectronics in Catania, so it belongs in this picture, with a caveat.

On 31 May 2024 ST announced a €5 billion Silicon Carbide Campus in Catania, with about €2 billion of Italian state aid approved under the EU Chips Act, for fully integrated 200 mm silicon carbide production. The latest detailed update I found is a union note on a meeting at the Ministry of Enterprise on 11 December 2025: a target of 5,000 SiC wafers a week by 2027 and 15,000 by 2037, an "operational study" to adapt the project to water supply, demand and geopolitics, and the government repeating a figure of 2,000 hires by 2037, while the union said only 37 extra jobs by 2027 had been declared. In July 2025 Italian press reported 206 redundancies at Catania as part of a group-wide plan, through voluntary exits (I saw this only in search previews of the articles).

I found no 2026 company statement confirming production has started. So: a huge investment under construction, with timelines pushed to 2027 and 2037. It's a reason Catania has engineers and suppliers. It's not a reason to move expecting a wave of tech jobs.

What this means if you're moving here

My read: if you're building something, Catania has more of the new hubs and the cheapest serious coworking, Palermo has PATIC and the city's attention. Neither is a mature ecosystem, and the money in 2026 comes mostly through public calls with paperwork and deadlines.

Next steps

1. Pick the two or three Open Innovation calls closest to your sector and read the deadlines this week.
2. Book a day at Isola Catania or a Palermo space from the coworking directory and ask who's running what.
3. Check Smart&Start or Resto al Sud 2.0 on Invitalia's pages, then take the conditions to a commercialista.
4. Put the tax residency guide on your list before you register a company here.