Italy is the EU country with the largest number of design companies (36,000), employing 63,000 workers and generating an added value of 2.94 billion; Milan is confirmed as the capital of design with 18% of the added value and 14% of the employees; furniture, packaging, automotive and clothing drive the demand for eco-design in our country.
 

These are the results emerging from the Design Economy 2023 report, produced by Symbola Foundation, Deloitte Private and POLI.design, with the support of ADI, Circolo del Design, Comieco, AlmaLaurea and CUID, presented on 14 April at the ADI Museum Design in Milan.

The Report, unique in Italy, analyses the design sector, providing a snapshot of the value generated and its role in the ecological transition and in the creation of value for the competitiveness of the national production system, considering both environmental and social aspects.

 

Design and ecological transition

Sustainability as an engine for growth is in fact the relevant topic for the sector: as many as 87.4% of those interviewed emphasise its importance in current projects, a percentage that rises to 96.5% in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises. This centrality is matched by a widespread awareness of competence levels, considered high or average by 86.9% of those interviewed, with an accentuation for larger organisations (97.1%).

As Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation, stated, 'Italy's leadership in design confirms its important role as an intangible infrastructure of Made in Italy and a protagonist in the challenge of sustainability. In the midst of a green and digital transition, design is again called upon to give shape, meaning and beauty to the future. Many aspects of our lives, as well as many sectors, are changing: from the metamorphosis of mobility towards shared, interconnected and electric models, to the processes of decarbonisation and the circular economy that are changing industry and supply chain relations. Products, in a context of scarce resources, will necessarily have to be redesigned to become more durable, repairable, reusable. The relationship between design and sustainability is at the basis of the new European Bauhaus launched by President Von der Leyen to contribute to the realisation of the European Green Deal, and for this reason Italy is a natural protagonist".

 

The Design Economy in Italy and Europe

According to the latest Eurostat survey, there are 222,390 active design companies in the European Union, a figure up by +5.3% compared to the previous survey. Italy, Germany, France and Spain together account for 48.0% of the companies in the European Union and, in particular, as we have said, Italy is in first place in Europe with 36,000 active design companies.

'This sector,' commented Ernesto Lanzillo, Deloitte Private Leader, 'is, however, still very fragmented, consisting mainly of freelancers and micro or small enterprises. It is therefore important to think of actions aimed at strengthening managerial and entrepreneurial skills, enabling organisations to continue to grow and to be able to respond to the major transformations of both the national and global economy. In addition to the 'traditional' managerial challenges, design companies will have to cope with the demand for sustainability coming from consumers, investors and regulators: especially for SMEs, supply chain and ESG ratings can be a calling card to operate in a global context where sustainability, through good corporate governance, is a fundamental prerequisite to stay in the market'.

 

Design companies in Italy

Design companies are distributed throughout the country, with a high concentration in the specialisation areas of Made in Italy and in the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Veneto.

In fact, Lombardy accounts for 29.4% of Italian companies, 32.5% of added value and 28.5% of total employment. This is followed by three other northern regions: Veneto (second in terms of enterprise share, 11.5%, fourth in terms of added value, 11.0% and third in terms of employment, 11.6%), Emilia Romagna (third in terms of enterprise share, 10.7%, but second in terms of added value, 13.3% and employment, 13.0%) and Piedmont (fourth in terms of enterprise share, 8.5%, the only case in which enterprises prevail over freelance professionals and the self-employed, third in terms of added value, 11.7% and fourth in terms of employment, 11.5%). Overall, these four regions concentrate 60.0% of the country's productive activities, as much as 68.6% of its output and 64.6% of its employment.

 

Milan is confirmed as the capital of design

The main capital of Italian design is Milan, which concentrates 18% of the sector's added value in Italy. In second place in the ranking by number of enterprises is the province of Rome (6.6%), third in terms of product (5.3%) and employment (5.7%), followed by Turin (third by share of enterprises, 5.1%, an area in which enterprises prevail over freelance professionals and the self-employed, but second by value added, 13.3% and employment, 13.0%), Florence (third by share of enterprises, 6.0%, fifth by value added, 3.0% and seventh by employment, 2.7%), Bologna (fifth by share of enterprises, 2.8%, fourth by value added, 3.8% and employment, 3.8%).

 

Italian design education

The education system is distributed throughout the country and there are 91 institutes accredited by the Ministry of Education: 28 universities, 16 Fine Arts Academies, 15 Legally Recognised Academies, 26 private institutes authorised to issue AFAM, Alta Formazione Artistica e Musicale, (Advanced Artistic and Musical Education), qualifications and 6 ISIA, Istituti Superiori per Industrie Artistiche, (Higher Institutes for Artistic Industries). For a total of 303 study courses, distributed over various levels of training and different areas of specialisation.

These include peaks of excellence such as the Politecnico di Milano, first among EU countries and 8th in the world according to the prestigious QS World University Rankings by Subject in the field of design, but first among public universities. Following this, the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) and the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) continue to play an important role in the training of designers. Compared to the previous year, the number of accredited and activated courses increased by 4% and the number of institutes by 12%, particularly in the case of Universities and Other Institutes authorised to award AFAM degrees.

It is not only the number of institutes that is growing, but also the demand and the number of students, at 14,907, i.e. 3.87% more than in the previous academic year. For university degree courses, most of which are subject to the constraint of the programmed number, the number of enrolments in the entrance test is increasing, far exceeding the number of available places, with a national average of 2.5 applications per available place and peaks of over 6 in northern Italy.

"The report - states Francesco Zurlo, professor at POLI.Design and dean of the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano - returns a growing sector with a high number of employees, with new courses and new dedicated structures, with interesting development prospects, grasping from the themes of sustainability, further cues that add new values to the qualities of beauty and functionality, linked to the environment, social equity, and the role of the design culture".

Luciano Galimberti, president of ADI Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (Industrial Design Association), emphasises how today's design is a complex system that stems from different skills, professional cultures and behaviours. Effective development strategies require reliable cognitive tools and ADI contributes with its experience to make these tools as complete as possible.