In Italy, design employs 63,485,000 people and generates an added value of 3.1 billion, Milan is confirmed as the capital of design with 18.8% of the added value and 13.3% of the workforce, the Salone del Mobile is the world's largest design event, and new professional figures are emerging in the sector, bringing together traditional design-related skills with knowledge of marketing, organisation and business strategy and advanced technologies. 

These are some of the most significant data emerging from the 'Design Economy 2024' report presented on 8 April in the prestigious venue of the ADI Design Museum in Milan. Now in its seventh edition, the report is promoted by Fondazione Symbola, ADI Associazione per il Disegno Industriale, Deloitte Private, Poli.Design and in collaboration with Comieco, CUID, Alma Laurea, ADI Design Museum, AIPi, AIAP and Circolo del Design, with the aim of increasing awareness of the value of design for the competitiveness of the national production system.

Tool for the dissemination of project culture 

The results of the report were illustrated and commented by Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation; Ernesto Lanzillo, Deloitte Private Leader Italia; Luciano Galimberti, president of ADI; Cabirio Cautela, CEO POLI. design; Domenico Sturabotti, director of Fondazione Symbola; Antonio Grillo, design director Tangity Design Studio - NTT Data; Maria Porro, president Salone del Mobile; Marco Maria Pedrazzo, designer manager; Susanna Sancassani, managing director METID - Politecnico di Milano; Francesco Zurlo, dean of the School of Design Politecnico di Milano; Lorenzo Bono, research and development manager Comieco; Adolfo Urso, Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy.

"Timely knowledge and qualitative reading of data on Italian design," stressed Luciano Galimberti, President of ADI, "on its economic consistency, on the companies that practice it and on the training of its professionals are a fundamental prerequisite for any reliable interpretation of the phenomena that characterise it year after year. For this reason, ADI, which is a direct observatory of Italian design, participates with commitment in the work of qualitative assessment from which Design Economy was born, an effective tool to achieve the association's central objective: the dissemination of design culture in the world of production and social life".

The Design Economy: a snapshot in Italy and Europe 

The sector counts 41,908 thousand operators in the design sector, divided between 24,596 freelancers and self-employed workers and 17,312 enterprises, which generated an added value of 3.14 billion with 63,485 thousand employees. The companies are distributed throughout the country, with a particular concentration in the Made in Italy specialisation areas and in the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and Piedmont, where 60% of the companies are located.

The turnover of Italian companies recorded the best performance among EU countries, ahead of the excellent results also achieved by France, Spain and Poland. In just one year, in fact, between 2021 and 2022, sales in the sector grew by +27.1%, almost double the EU average (+14.4%). 

"Italy represents the beating heart of European design," commented Ernesto Lanzillo, Partner and Leader of Deloitte Private in Italy, "boasting supremacy among the 27 EU countries in terms of employees and turnover in the sector. What distinguishes our country, in addition to its supremacy in terms of size, is also the level of innovation of Made in Italy design, which is now considered a fundamental element for competitiveness'.

Milan is confirmed as the capital of design 

The capital of Italian design is Milan: the Lombard capital is in fact able to concentrate 18% of the sector's added value on the national territory. Milan is also home to the Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone, the world's largest event dedicated to design. 

The regional distribution of the data highlights the strong concentration of design activities in Lombardy and specifically in the province of Milan. In fact, the Lombardy region accounts for 29.4% of Italian companies, 32.7% of added value and 27.7% of total employment. It is followed by three other northern regions: Veneto (second for share of companies, 11.4%, third for added value, 11.4% and third for employment, 11.7%), Emilia Romagna (third for share of companies, 10.5%, but second for added value, 13.5% and employment, 13.3%) and Piedmont (fourth for share of companies, 8.3%, fourth for added value, 10.9% and fourth for employment, 11.0%).

Milan is also at the top among the provinces, confirming the position noted in previous reports: the area concentrates 14.4% of enterprises, 18.8% of the added value produced and 13.3% of national employment. In second place in the ranking in terms of number of enterprises is the province of Rome (6.6%), third in terms of product (5.4%) and employment (5.9%), followed by Turin (5.0% but second in terms of added value, 7.2% and employment, 7.1%), Florence (fourth in terms of the number of enterprises, 3.1%, fifth in terms of added value, 2.9% and seventh in terms of employment, 2.6%), Bologna (fifth in terms of the number of enterprises, 2.8%, fourth in terms of added value, 3.7% and employment, 3.6%).

Design and sustainability 

The theme of environmental sustainability emerges as relevant for the sector: the widespread level of competence highlights medium-high values for almost all the operators interviewed, with a peak of 96.4% for companies with over 10 employees. Confirming the importance of the topic, as many as 74.8% of those interviewed emphasised its importance in current projects. 

"The Italian leadership in design confirms its important role as the intangible infrastructure of Made in Italy and a protagonist in the challenge of sustainability. In the midst of a green and digital transition," says Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation, "design is once again called upon to give shape, meaning and beauty to the future. 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 Italy is a natural protagonist in this too".

New emerging design figures 

Interestingly, the study led to the identification of 20 new emerging professional figures that highlight how the field of design is intertwined with innovation, organisation and technology, confirming the changing and interdisciplinary nature of the designer. 

"For years we have been used to interpreting the role - said Cabirio Cautela, CEO of Poli.design - and the activity of a designer in a mainly manufacturing key. In a scenario undergoing profound change, we are instead observing the emergence of designer figures who operate as creators of digital content, designers who manipulate organisational aspects once the prerogative only of human resources, or designers linked to new fields such as biology - the bio-designer - or law, such as the legal designer". 

Emerging design figures include transdisciplinary professions such as the material designer, the designer for accessibility and inclusion and the design engineer. Companies are more familiar with more vertical and specific figures such as the digital content strategist and the information designer. Also relevant is the emerging figure of the prompt designer/designer for AI who can create a bridge between technology and the practical needs of customers.

Italian design education 

In the 2022/2023 academic year 95 institutes have activated study courses in design disciplines, 3 more than in the previous survey. These include 30 Universities (of which 20 public and 10 private) 26 Other Institutes authorised to issue AFAM degrees, 20 Fine Arts Academies, 13 Legally Recognised Academies and 6 ISIAs, for a total of 344 study courses, distributed across various levels of training and different areas of specialisation. Compared to the previous year, the number of accredited and activated courses increased by 5% and the number of institutes by 3%, particularly in the case of Universities and Academies of Fine Arts and Legally Recognised Academies. What is growing is not only the number of institutes and courses activated, but also the demand and the number of students at 16,423, i.e. 8.6% more than in the previous academic year. This growth is moderated by quota admissions in almost all types of institutes.

The analysis of the geographical distribution of institutes and students enrolled in the first year offers a snapshot of the places of design education. In general, there is a wide spread throughout Italy with varying levels of concentration. Although in absolute numbers this is greater in the North (40% of institutes and 56% of students), the growth dynamic of new students enrolled rewards the Centre in particular (+25.6% in the last two years and +16.5% in the last year) and the South and the Islands (+13.6% compared to last year).

Design, Digital Transition, Artificial Intelligence 

Among the technologies considered most relevant by the sector is Extended Reality (40.6%), which, with its immersive tools, enables new forms of collaboration, encouraging creativity, improving training and opening up new business opportunities. This is followed by predictive and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) (37.7%), for its ability to support and make design activities more efficient, automating certain phases, generating ideas and concepts, simulations and advanced prototypes. 

The level of technological competence of designers appears to be high, with 83% of those interviewed in the report judging it to be medium or high, the level of preparation on AI-based technologies is on the whole still limited, in line with the national context: only 45% rate their level of knowledge as medium-high. The limited understanding of how AI works and of the opportunities arising from its introduction currently translates into reduced use in design. Obstacles to the spread of generative AI include language and age barriers. 

The advantages of using AI are optimisation of project development time (42.0%), greater customisation of products, better services and user experience (37.7%). A value linked to the complementarity and synergy between the two intelligences: human and artificial.