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Good practice Imported

San Marino Innovation — Tiered Tax Certification That Pulled In 96 Foreign Founders and 12 Locals

San Marino · City of San Marino · See the San Marino profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 89% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

San Marino's certification scheme, with taxes falling from 0% to 8% over 12 years, grew from 89 to 109 high-tech firms and 215 to 309 staff (2022-2024) - but 96 entrepreneurs are foreign vs 12 local.

89 (end-2022) → 105 (end-2023) → 109 (end-2024)
Certified high-tech companies
215 (2022) → 272 (2023) → 309 (2024) staff
Employment at certified companies
73 Level-I startups, 27 Level-II, 9 Scale-Up Acceleration
End-2024 certification-tier mix (end-2024)
21 of 49 (43%)
Applications rejected in 2024 for failing innovation/business-plan criteria (2024)
14 (4 revoked for non-compliance, rest voluntary)
Companies that exited the scheme in 2023 (2023)
96 foreign vs 12 local
Foreign vs local entrepreneurs certified (2024)
12% (2024), up from 7% (2021)
Female entrepreneurship share
San Marino Innovation — Tiered Tax Certification That Pulled In 96 Foreign Founders and 12 Locals

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
San Marino Innovation (Istituto per l'Innovazione)
Period
2019-2024
Keywords
high-tech certification, tax incentives, startup ecosystem, talent attraction

Context

Under San Marino's Innovation Decree, San Marino Innovation (the state-backed innovation institute) certifies firms as 'high-tech', granting a 12-year tax glide path — full exemption for 3 years, 4% for 4 years, 8% for 5 years — plus an operating-licence fee exemption for the first two tiers.

Objectives

Attract and grow high-tech companies and talent in a microstate of roughly 34,000 people, via a transparent, tiered tax-certification mechanism rather than a blanket incentive.

Activities

San Marino Innovation certifies applicants against innovation and business-plan criteria, actively rejecting non-qualifying applications and revoking non-compliant certifications, and publishes annual, dated figures corroborated by independent broadcaster San Marino RTV.

Results

Certified companies rose from 89 (end-2022) to 105 (end-2023, +18%) to 109 (end-2024); employment rose from 215 to 272 to 309 staff over the same period, with a 2024 mix of 73 Level-I, 27 Level-II and 9 Scale-Up tier firms.

Conclusions

The scheme shows real limits alongside its growth: in 2024, 21 of 49 applications (43%) were rejected, and 14 certified companies exited in 2023 (4 revoked, the rest voluntary). The mix skews heavily foreign (96 foreign entrepreneurs vs 12 local in 2024), and female entrepreneurship, while rising, remained low at 12% (up from 7% in 2021).

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
San Marino Innovation (Istituto per l'Innovazione) — certifies firms and administers the tiered tax regime

Conditions for success

  • Active gatekeeping rather than rubber-stamping: 43% of 2024 applications were rejected and 14 companies exited/were revoked in 2023, indicating genuine ongoing review

Common failure modes

  • Heavy skew toward foreign entrepreneurs (96 vs 12 local in 2024) and persistently low female entrepreneurship (12% in 2024) show limited local and inclusive uptake

Commonly funded by

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Data sources

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