Made in Italy according to Intesa Sanpaolo

Anna Roscio, executive director Sales&Marketing Imprese Intesa Sanpaolo

A conversation with Anna Roscio, Executive Director, Sales&Marketing Imprese Intesa Sanpaolo, a 2025 del Salone del Mobile.Milano partner

The Salone del Mobile.Milano is a is a crucial event for the dissemination of design and the culture of Made in Italy, an opportunity for meeting, networking and swapping visions. In this context, once again this year, Intesa Sanpaolo is supporting the event as an institutional partner, underscoring the strategic importance of a fundamental sector for the Italian economy. As part of the packed "Drafting Futures.  Conversations about Next Perspectives" cultural programme of talks and round tables, curated by the Salone’s Editorial Director & Cultural Events Advisor Annalisa Rosso, Intesa Sanpaolo will be present on Wednesday 9 April at 2.30 pm, in Pavilion 14, for the Round Table "Manufacturing excellence and Italian Style around the world: comparing experiences for growth on international markets" moderated by journalist Giusi Legrenzi. Speakers will include Fiorenzo Bandecchi, President Yachtline 1618; Alexander M. Bellman, Architect; Sabrina Berini, Export Manager DEA; Luigi Passera, CEO Lario Hotels; Maurizio Riva, President and CEO Riva1920; Anna Roscio, Executive Director Sales & Marketing Imprese Intesa Sanpaolo; Stefania Trenti, Head of Industry & Local Economies Research Department Intesa Sanpaolo.

In strategic terms, how important is it for Intesa Sanpaolo to oversee a major international event such as the Salone del Mobile.Milano?

Intesa Sanpaolo's collaboration with the Salone del Mobile.Milano, as an institutional partner, goes back almost ten years. A demonstration of how fundamental and crucial we believe Italy’s home furnishing industry and design are for the country's economy, which we have always supported with solutions tailored to its specific qualities, with the aim of supporting the entire supply chain and encouraging its attractivity.

What will your contribution be this year?

In our traditional talk at this year’s Salone, we want to give professionals a crosscutting picture of the connections between Italian design and other Italian supply chains, from fashion to tourism, and textiles to sailing. Through testimonies and experiences, we will see how these connections can help disseminate Made in Italy around the world, as well as raising GDP and employment. During the talk, in the Formafantasma Arena in Pavilion 14 at 2.30pm on Wednesday 9th April, we will analyse the scenario and prospects of the sectors driven by Made in Italy, which are currently facing up to new economic and geopolitical challenges. We will share growth paths with companies and designers on the value and the power of the Italian Style supply chains, and provide suggestions and tools to support their competitive advantages and international development.

Made in Italy is an asset of prime importance for the design industry. How does Intesa Sanpaolo support this uniqueness, especially in a complex economic and geopolitical context?

Made in Italy is built on a strong local and artisan tradition, on fine specialisations and a unique system on the international scene - the supply chains - which are an example of industrial and manufacturing integration that have proved to be a winner for growth, both in Italy and internationally, especially at really complex times. However, this uniqueness needs to be underpinned by development strategies that leverage innovation and sustainability, both essential for the companies’ competitiveness.

What do you see as the key elements that enable design and other Italian industries to emerge and be competitive at global level?

Italian Style, understood as the set of sectors that leverage Italian design and style, has seen great successes on international markets in recent years, thanks to the quality of productions, often based on unique and artisan skills located in the districts, combined with the ability and foresight of the leading companies to reach world consumers.

The competitiveness of our productive fabric is reflected in the 2024 trade interchange data, which consolidated the record results for 2023. Furniture and fashion, in particular, which are the most representative sectors of Made in Italy in the world, generated a largely positive trade balance (9 billion euros and 25 billion in 2024, respectively), only slightly lower than what was achieved in 2023 (9 billion euros and 27 billion euros respectively).

The winning logic of the supply chain is enabling Italian companies to better address a complex competitive context such as the current one, in which a number of factors are entwined, from geopolitical risks to uncertainty about economic policies. Faced with the threat of new duties, companies are reacting by aiming for greater diversification of outlet markets. A survey conducted A survey conducted through our network of managers who support our clients’ foreign operations has shown that the search for new outlet markets capable of compensating, at least in part, for the slowdown in sales on the American market is a priority. Equally, companies are focusing on strengthening their direct presence in countries subject to trade barriers, such as the United States, which will continue to be a driving market.

At a historic and complex time, how is Intesa Sanpaolo addressing the challenge of supporting investments in innovation, sustainability and digitisation?

In this current scenario, Intesa Sanpaolo is confirming and strengthening its role as a reference partner for SMEs in all key sectors of the country, with credit, planning, partnerships, support in Italy and abroad. We want to accompany companies towards solid and sustainable growth, increasing their competitiveness on national and international markets.

The fact that the Group is also a driving force at international level allows us to meet the needs of our clients every day, wherever they are. Our global network consists of subsidiary banks, active in 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and an international network specialised in supporting corporate customers, consisting of corporate hubs, representative offices, branches and banks, in 25 different countries.

Also, given the uncertainty permeating this particular time, and which really impacted on the second half of 2024 and early 2025, Intesa Sanpaolo is responding by creating a system to boost investments that must look at sustainability, innovation and digitisation and which represent the compass for growth and for maintaining their competitiveness on international markets too.  

Our recent agreement with Confindustria, which is making 200 billion euros available between now and 2028, goes in this direction, to give new impetus to the national production system and make the most of tools such as Transition 5.0 and A.I.. The novelties of the agreement include the focus on sustainable transformation processes, the circular economy and innovative processes with high technological content. In addition, with the Sustainable Living plan, the agreement aims to promote mobility and attract talent to Italian industry. Green and energy transformation with the consequent fall in environmental impact must continue to be seen as strategic in the Made in Italy supply chain, making it a driver of the spread of eco-sustainability, technology and digitisation throughout the production system, as well as taking on an increasingly pivotal role by virtue of the impact generated on the local economy. In the last four years, we have disbursed more than €10 billion in loans to Italian SMEs for investments in sustainability.

How important is it to focus on research and innovation?

We are promoting the creation of "start-up-research-business" ecosystems, investing in valorisation programmes such as Up2Stars, geared to accelerating innovative Italian start-ups, with a view to creating synergies to help the integration of these innovative realities into the Made in Italy production chains. Over a two-year period, we have accelerated 80 start-ups, projects dedicated to the world of design among them, which see the logic of the circular economy as a key element of their success. I believe it is necessary to develop an awareness that start-ups are an integral part of economic strategy throughout the production system, accompanying them through their growth process and providing them will skills, relationships, people, structures and, where necessary, capital too. Our role is certainly to support them on a financial front, but also to help create the right ecosystem to boost their growth process. This is why we work in synergy with many important partners.