Milan is, without doubt, the capital of Italy's creative industry. According to Istat, creative enterprises, i.e. those for which creativity is the main product, account for 22.9% of the Milanese economy in terms of numbers of workers and 27.4% in terms of the number of regularly employed people.

Milan's creative industry is particularly strong in the service sector, with 58,873 businesses and over 204,000 workers and also in manufacturing, with 23,217 businesses and no fewer than 226,293 workers.

Alongside this global excellence, other technology and innovation based sectors have gradually been forging ahead. More recently Milan has also asserted its leadership in the healthcare sector, with a wide and variegated range of specialized skills, backed by a strong biotech industry.