Design, an ecosystem of 7 thousand companies and 10 thousand employees in Milan

That Milan is a world reference point for design is something that everyone knows and recognises by now: this is testified to by the numbers of the Salone del Mobile, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city every year, with 370,824 visitors in the last edition last April (65.6% from abroad). And this is now confirmed by the Report "(Eco) Sistema Design Milano", the first chapter of a broader project conceived and promoted by the Salone del Mobile, under the scientific supervision of the Politecnico di Milano, which aims to measure the impact of the Salone and the Design Week connected to it on the city and the wider Lombardy region by setting up a permanent Observatory on the event.

An impact that is not only economic and quantitative, but also social, cultural and qualitative. "Our ambition is for Milan, from being the design capital of the world, to become the design capital for the world," said Maria Porro, President of the Salone, presenting the results of the Report yesterday. "This passes through the daily work of companies and professionals in the sector, but also through tools such as this research, which helps us to identify common directions to work on, such as sustainability and quality.

Well, the 'ecosystem' includes the Salone machine, the events in the city organised during Design Week (1,326 in the last edition, an increase of 10.5% compared to 2023) and Milan's design system, which Politecnico researchers - by cross-referencing data from various sources - estimate at 6,790 entities, including companies, freelancers and self-employed workers, that carry out specialised design activities. The companies number over 2,275 and employ over 10,000 people, as explained by Francesco Zurlo, a professor at the Politecnico who, together with Stefano Maffei, coordinated the research. Half of the design companies in Lombardy are active in Milan, i.e. one company in seven at Italian level.

Moreover, a system that enjoys excellent health, as demonstrated by the fact that the number of these companies has increased by 66% between 2009 and 2023. And which draws lymph precisely from the presence in Milan of the Show and the strength of the supply chain that represents its industrial foundation. On a national level, the wood-furniture sector counts more than 66 thousand companies and 300 thousand employees (about 20 thousand companies and 140 thousand workers for the furnishing sector alone), as Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, recalled. "For our industrial fabric, taking part in the Salone has an unparalleled strategic value," added Feltrin. "This event is a unicum of which our companies are the driving force and, at the same time, the end user.

And if the Salone is the privileged showcase of the Italian furniture industry, it is not surprising that the 'behind the scenes' figures are also impressive. Maria Porro rattles off these figures: "The set-up and dismantling of the last exhibition involved 899 stand-fitting companies, with a total of over 83,000 workers. And to get an idea of the size of the phenomenon, one figure is enough: the more than 233,000 meals provided during the days of the exhibition and during the set-up and dismantling phases'.