Interview with Carlo Giuseppe Sangalli, President, Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi

06 Mar Interview with Carlo Giuseppe Sangalli, President, Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi

How important is Milan to Italy’s overall economy, and what new industrial trends are we seeing?

Milan is at the forefront of the Italian economy. The city has a strong international vocation evidenced by imports and exports worth 14% and 9% of the national total respectively. In 2023, our exports grew by 4.1%. A new trend is a strong focus on innovation by startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have grown fourfold in number in the last eight years. These businesses now represent 30% of all innovative companies in Italy. In addition, there are many international companies operating in the territory. These companies operate mainly in knowledge-intensive sectors such as pharmaceuticals and digital technologies and invest heavily in research.

What role does The Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi play in developing the local economy?

The Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi is a public institution with functional autonomy that aims to synthesize the different interests of all economic categories. Currently our chamber of commerce represents around 400,000 enterprises operating in our territory, with many of them being leaders in design, fashion and financial technology sectors. We perform the critical function of sectoral development within the local economy. Our duties are to keep the register of enterprises, which by law records the life of every enterprise, and support the competitiveness of businesses and territories through economic information activities. Our mission is summarized by the following simple principle: we make life easier for every company. We facilitate access to innovative public services while promoting the sustainable development of our territory.

Our chamber recently adopted three main strategic objectives across all our programs. The first and foremost is helping our member enterprises through simplification. For example, we provide businesses with clearer information or arbitration mediation in their interactions with the public administration. We provide a quick, efficient and useful alternative to the justice system for enterprises with the goal of allowing businesses to operate more efficiently. The second is to encourage innovation, sustainability, openness and access to financing. Last, we aim to develop the overall attractiveness of our territory.

What is the chamber of commerce doing to promote sustainable development of Milan’s emergent tourism sector?

Tourism is growing rapidly in Milan. We had a record number of visitors in 2023, with 7 million visitors in the metropolitan area of Milan, 24% more than the previous year. Of these 7 million visitors, 61% were foreign, mainly coming from the USA, France and Germany. Interestingly, there was a 215% year-on-year rise in the number of Chinese tourists entering the city in 2023. One of Milan’s main tourism segments is meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions. We host several large exhibitions such as the CPHI Milan event for pharmaceuticals and the Milano Fintech Summit, all of which have a huge impact on our economy. The chamber of commerce and the municipality of Milan recently established a promotional agency called Milano & Partners to attract talent, investments and visitors. While numbers have grown, we are also facing the difficult challenge of overtourism. Our objective is to face the situation in a sustainable way by valorizing quality tourism. We provide a series of grants and give assistance to enterprises promoting green solutions such as cycle tourism.

What milestones has Milan passed in reaching its goal of becoming a global hub for digital innovation?

Milan’s digital transformation has deeply impacted our culture and business ecosystem, particularly following the pandemic. Our organization supports SMEs with a series of grants to facilitate innovation, such as incorporating big data, cyber security and new technologies into business models. We are currently running a grant to help micro-, small and medium-size enterprises develop and adopt 4.0 technologies, with 30 million euros allocated. The grant covers up to 50% of all expenditures put towards digitization.

Our most important innovation project is the Tech Europe Foundation, which was recently launched by Bocconi University, the Polytechnic University of Milan and other private partners. It is a non-profit organization that aims to create an open environment where scientists, companies and startups can cooperate and grow together. We want to consolidate Milan as a center of excellence for technological and entrepreneurial innovation. Our objective is to build a hub in Parco dei Gasometri designed by Renzo Piano. This foundation will be challenged with attracting the best national and international talents and keeping them within our city. The foundation will support a thousand innovative startups every year with the goal of making Milan a top global capital city in terms of technological innovation.

How significant is international participation in the local economy?

We have 5,764 foreign multinational companies operating in our territory, which is around a third of all international corporations present in the country. These companies give work to 634,000 employees and are active in strategic sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and electronics. Our territory accounts for over a third of the national total in these segments. The attractiveness of our territory is closely linked to the local expertise and high quality of human capital in various supply chains and our patenting capacity. Our data shows that the territories of Milan, Monza Brianza and Lodi are very attractive for international companies. Italian creativity has made the Made in Italy brand famous throughout the world. Promos Italia is the chamber of commerce’s agency that is tasked with promoting the internationalization of our companies and helping them grow their exports and reach new markets. We also offer support and services to foreign enterprises wishing to invest in our territory.

What next steps are essential for the region to meet its development goals?

Our top priority in making Milan more attractive is spreading innovation and making it affordable for SMEs; no one should be left behind. Our second priority is to make Milan a European technology hub, supported largely by the Tech Europe Foundation. We want to create an ecosystem that valorizes local know-how and connects to the global network of innovation and progress. Our third priority is the continuation of our path to being a sustainable city. This requires investment in an efficient transport network that rapidly connects our territory. We also want to keep investing with the municipality of Milan and the Lombardy regional administration to redevelop the city’s suburbs through urban revitalization projects with special focus on our city’s housing situation. Another key development is the upcoming winter Olympic games, which is a great opportunity for Milan to showcase its brand on the international stage. Our objective is to achieve the same amount of success for the city we had with the Expo 2015 event, which was a great example of virtuous cooperation among local institutions. The common thread in all our priorities is to not be afraid of innovation and change. As Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”