{"id":41197,"date":"2015-06-29T13:53:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T12:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/leconomie-a-milan-vrai-showroom-a-litalienne-20150629.html"},"modified":"2016-02-10T10:31:27","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T09:31:27","slug":"the-economy-in-milan-a-real-italian-showroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/the-economy-in-milan-a-real-italian-showroom","title":{"rendered":"The economy in Milan, a true Italian showroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lace and rags: the extreme finesse of the Duomo's fa\u00e7ade (1) is matched by the freshness of the fashion collections that adorn the chic storefronts of the \"golden quadrilateral\" (2). Two symbols of a city that is always in tune, and the right tone, knowing how to pass the years without going out of fashion.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Milan is racy, elegant and refined. You can sense it when you walk under the sumptuous glass roof of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele - the city's aorta - and reach the Duomo and its sublime jagged spires. And it's all the more convincing when you stroll through its \"golden quadrilateral\", home to all the luxury brands made in Italy, such as Trussardi, Prada, Missoni and Dolce & Gabbana. \"Milan is the country's showcase, its real production centre<\/em>explains Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chailloux, Head of Fashion, Home, Health & Communications for Business France Italia. It's a permanent showroom where design and fashion are the driving forces.<\/em>\"One in ten people work in these sectors, which together account for 23,000 businesses out of a total of around 280,000 companies. The city's Chamber of Commerce estimates that design and fashion generate revenue of almost \u20ac20 billion a year.<\/p>\n

Using its negotiating skills, a distant legacy from the time of the Sforza family, the capital of Lombardy has established itself with authoritative grace. Strategically located between northern and southern Europe, on the borders of France and the German-speaking countries, the metropolis has capitalised on its international exchanges to become the fifth largest urban area on the Old Continent - with over 7.5 million inhabitants - after Moscow, London, Paris and the Rhine-Ruhr region. Greater Milan now accounts for almost a third of Italy's trade and 11 % of the country's GDP. By locating here rather than in Rome, the Italian stock exchange and the many private companies headquartered in the city have given it the status of the country's economic and financial capital. It's hardly surprising, then, that Lombardy is one of the \"four engines for Europe\", the region having come together with Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Catalonia and Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes to form a highly dynamic cooperation group.<\/p>\n

\"Back<\/p>\n

So is it any coincidence that Milan has also become one of Europe's most important congress venues? With the famous Feria Milano, a hallucinatory exhibition centre designed by architect Massimiliano Fuksas and opened just ten years ago, the city has clearly positioned itself as a \"world-class convention centre\".as a magnet for international events<\/em>\"says Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chailloux. While Paris remains the fashion centre for haute couture, Milan is above all the centre for top-of-the-range ready-to-wear.<\/em>\"As a result, buyers flock from all over the world to the fashion weeks held each spring and autumn. They also take the opportunity to visit one of the many fairs dedicated to design, such as Milano Moda Design for textiles and ready-to-wear, the International Shoe Fair, or the Leather Goods, Fur, Leather and Accessories Fair. Interior design events such as Homi Milano and the furniture fair also draw large crowds. \"Milan has 850 permanent showrooms<\/em>says Anna Perrone, Fashion & Accessories Advisor for Business France Italia. But their organisation is often informal, family-based and independent, certainly because the State traditionally interferes little in Italian business.<\/em>\"<\/p>\n

Gently rebellious, the capital of Lombardy is cultivating its spirit of independence and seeing the development of 'off' events, less official - but just as important - vehicles for international transactions. It all started with the Salone del Mobile, the furniture fair that has been held every April since 1961. Over the years, this global meeting place for design and interior architecture has become too small. So a different version of the event began to take over the industrial wastelands of the Zona Tortona, a long-neglected district in the south of the city that is now very much in vogue.<\/p>\n

\"1<\/p>\n

Green business in Porta Nuova<\/h2>\n

This epicentre of independent creation is part of the very current renewal of the districts beyond the famous 'golden quadrilateral'. In the same spirit, the Progetto Porta Nuova was launched in 2009 on a site that was still desolate not so long ago, not far from the Porta Garibaldi station and a short distance from the famous Corso Como. Built in compliance with ecological standards, this brand-new business and residential district earned its first letters of nobility with the International Highrise Award received in 2014 for the \"Bosco Verticale\", two buildings designed by Stefano Boeri and conceived as forests at altitude. Completed last year, Porta Nuova combines offices and shops, exhibition and event spaces, living and leisure areas, and very quickly attracted the attention of the Qatar sovereign wealth fund, which became part owner.<\/p>\n

\"2<\/p>\n

This shows just how much Milan's potential is growing, even as it emerges from a crisis that has hit it hard. This is its strength, but also its weakness: the weight of industry in Milan's economy makes it dependent on the countries to which it exports. This is the case for the whole of Italy, Europe's second largest industrial country after Germany, but the phenomenon is even more marked in Milan, where industry's share of employment is well above average, with 36.2 % of the working population, compared with 29.9 % for the country as a whole. The leading sectors in Milan and its province are textiles, footwear and furniture, as well as mechanical engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metallurgy and food processing. Only the new technologies are largely absent...<\/p>\n

\"golden<\/p>\n

\"3<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, although Lombardy's attractiveness plummeted between 2008 and 2012, foreign direct investment in company start-ups, known as 'greenfield' investment, rose by 12 % in 2013, while it had fallen by 6 % in the rest of the country. There are two reasons for this: firstly, the launch of the \"Invest in Lombardy\" service to stimulate demand, but also, on the supply side, a real capacity to innovate and dust off traditional sectors. Here again we see one of Milan's hallmarks: the ability to refresh old laurels. As a result, neglected districts are gradually regaining their panache, textile and leather production has gradually risen to new heights of quality, and the food sector is also playing the renewal card. The Slow Food association, founded in 1986 to counter the arrival of fast-food chains such as Mac Donald's, has gradually helped to rediscover rare or endangered Italian products, while supporting major projects such as the \"Universities of Gastronomic Sciences\".<\/p>\n

The movement has also encouraged the emergence of Eataly department stores, veritable palaces of flavour for expert taste buds. Supporting small-scale producers, these shops can now be found in Milan, Rome and Turin, as well as in New York and Tokyo. \"Slow Food has really worked to enhance the value of Italy's terroir,<\/em> explains the young chef, Emanuele Pollini. Milan is a fast-changing city that likes to experiment. When it comes to organic produce and 'kilometre 0', i.e. local produce, we have extraordinary resources. Before I came here, I had to have my own kitchen garden. Now I really don't have to.<\/em>\"<\/p>\n

The Matteo Renzi effect<\/h2>\n

Italy is now Europe's leading producer of organic produce, but also its leading consumer. \"What's more, the regulations are much stricter than in France, because the Italians have opted for very high quality products, such as the olive oil from Lake Garda, which is produced in very small quantities but is beyond reproach.<\/em>This is just one example of the new wind blowing through Italy,\" explains Chantal Pallin-Zinardi, Director General of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Milan. For her, this is just one example of the new wind now blowing through the country. \"Despite the crisis, Italy is doing better and better, no doubt also due to the arrival of Matteo Renzi, the young head of government who seems to be giving the Italians a bit of a boost.<\/em>\"she says. \"And the prospect of Expo 2015, which has accelerated infrastructure projects such as new metro lines, has naturally put the country and Milan in the firing line.<\/em>\"she adds.<\/p>\n

Is this why more and more French companies are looking to secure a foothold with their near neighbours? \"It's certainly not because of the tax advantages or aid that Italy offers... but rather because local entrepreneurs are imaginative and the French are looking for good partners...<\/em>\"says Chantal Pallin-Zinardi. Nearly 600 French companies are based in the Milan area. Galeries Lafayette recently announced that a shop is due to open in 2018 in Westfeld Milan, Italy's next major shopping centre. This is a logical way for this shopping mecca to get closer to all the designers in the capital of Lombardy.<\/p>\n