Milan in figures

Lombardy covers an area of just under 24,000 km2. It is the fourth-largest region in Italy in area (after Sicily, Piedmont and Sardinia) and hosts 9.6 million residents. There were 959,567 companies registered in Lombardy at the end of 2007 (33.9 active companies per km2 and 84.3 companies per 1,000 population).
The business system is composed primarily of manufacturing and advanced service companies with employment and production levels well above the national average.

Milan contributes 10% of national GDP, while Lombardy contributes over 20% of national GDP. The Milan system alone accounts for 25% of Italian imports and 13% of its exports.
The share of Milan province in the national total is equal to:

16.2% of investors

18% of revenues generated abroad

19.9% of the number of equity investments in foreign companies

22.7% of employees abroad.

Thanks to its geographical position, ICT infrastructure and its universities and financial structures, Milan is the principal portal for foreign direct investments (more than 50% of foreign equity investments in Italy are sited in Lombardy).
Milan is particularly favored by the Italian subsidiaries of foreign multinationals in the services and high-tech manufacturing sectors (chemical-pharmaceutical, electrical and electronic, and mechanical).
Most of the foreign companies with a presence in Milan come from the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Important Chinese and Indian groups have also approached the Lombard market in recent years.

Patents and innovation

Emilia Romagna and Lombardy are the most innovative regions in Italy, sharing first place in the patents presented to the European entity EPO (period 1995–2004).

According to a study completed in 2008 by the Iris Research Institute and the Tuscany Region on patent application by Italian companies, northwestern Italy ranks third among the European macro-regions in the number of employees in high-tech industries.

Lombardy, European leader in the machinery sector, accounts for a third of the 28,000 patents presented during the period in question. Milan alone, with 5,500 patents, represented 20% of the total.

The most dynamic sectors are machinery (31% of registrations), pharmaceuticals (8%) and medical equipment (5%).