The economy of the Milan metropolitan area generates about 10% of Italy’s G.D.P. Big corporations have been replaced by a string of small companies that today make up 94% of all business concerns. In the service industry however, there’s a trend towards bigger conglomerations especially in sectors like retail distribution and telecommunications.  The leading industrial sectors are mechanical engineering, machine manufacturing, design, and fashion. IT and biotechnology were developed in the 1990s. The biotech industry is supported by a network of research centres, science and technology labs, and medical structures that facilitate experimentation and industrialisation. Milan is home to leading Italian and European ICT and hi-tech corporations who have their production and research centres here as well.
Five million business travellers come to Milan every year and the New Fiera Milano exhibition complex  located in Rho/Pero  is the biggest in Europe. The structure, built by the renowned architect Massimiliano Fuksas, hosts 88 trade fairs with over 32,000 exhibitors per year. The city is a leader in publishing and is gaining prominence in telecommunications and energy. Milan is among Europe’s top five financial centres and the only Italian gateway to the international financial market. Such a dynamic and diversified economic system is inevitably interconnected with the university network and private or state research institutes like the CNR (National Research Council), the INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics), the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research.