The annual selection by ADI – Association for Industrial Design traces the leading trajectories across modern manufacturing. Running in Milan until October 15, the showcase anticipates the core Italian Design Trends.
Founded in 1956 as the cultural engine uniting industrial production and creative vision, ADI (Association for Industrial Design) historically shaped the global perception of the Made in Italy phenomenon. Today, the institution drives its mission forward with the ADI Design Index 2026. Functioning as a living map of contemporary Italian design and its deep transformations, the annual publication curates a rigorous selection of projects tracing the leading trajectories across their respective fields. The Index actively maps design applications spanning the entire national territory. Showcasing the most profound evolutions in modern manufacturing and anticipating upcoming Italian Design Trends, the new selection is on display at the ADI Design Museum in Milan until October 15.
The ADI Design Index 2026 Selection
The 340 selected projects are divided into 14 categories: Residential Design (84); Lighting Design (17); Mobility Design (11); Workplace Design (17); Personal Design (31); Food Design (11); Materials and Technological Systems Design (22); Service Design (19); Social Design (27); Enterprise Research (8); Communication Design (28); Exhibition Design (26); Theoretical, Historical, and Critical Research (18); Youth Plaque (21).
The distribution of projects highlights a vast observational scope and a growing permeability across disciplines. As the Scientific Committee points out, many submissions now embed accompanying services. Different design dimensions merge seamlessly, often defying rigid single-category classification. Consequently, the ADI Design Index acts as a living map of the Italian design landscape: a vital instrument to track evolving products, processes, services, and languages. By capturing the industry’s response to technological, environmental, and social shifts, it effectively defines current Italian Design Trends.
«The latest results from the ADI Permanent Design Observatory validate design as a unified methodology, one able to interact with any technological advancement without losing its intrinsic purpose,” notes ADI President Luciano Galimberti. “I often call this overview non-exhaustive yet highly credible: a yearly snapshot revealing the state of the art in the Italian design landscape, illustrating the system’s evolving dialogue with society.»
An Observatory Overlooking the Innovation Landscape
The selection is underpinned by the research of the ADI Permanent Design Observatory, a structured network uniting diverse expertise, regional perspectives, and distinct disciplinary fields. For the 2026 edition, the Scientific Committee features Alessandro Colombo, Maite García Sanchis, Valentina Fisichella, Fabrizio Pierandrei, and Francesco Zurlo, supported by fourteen regional and fourteen thematic commissions.
Moving beyond purely formal dimensions, the selection process examines a project’s broader context. Innovation, function, materials, applied technologies, manufacturing processes, sustainability, accessibility, user engagement, and the capacity to interpret emerging needs all contribute to the final assessment.
A necessarily heterogeneous panorama emerges, combining established manufacturing sectors with novel design territories. Plurality itself allows the Index to record signals, shifts, and research directions; read over time, the collected elements illustrate evolutionary paths and consolidate Italian Design Trends across different application fields.
The 2026 edition marks a new milestone in an exploration conducted by ADI for over thirty years. Today, the association holds an extensive data archive extending beyond the annual selection, functioning as a foundational starting point for a new level of analysis developed by the ADI Study Center.
From Project to Data: The ADI Study Center
ADI Design Index 2026 introduces the second edition of the ADI Study Center Report, created to pair design observation with analytical tools positioning the discipline within national economic, productive, and social transformations.
The starting point remains the extensive archive compiled during past ADI Design Index editions: a mapping of design applications across the national territory. Cross-referencing the collected data with other sources and indicators reveals phenomena and variations rarely evident by observing individual submissions alone.
Coordinated by Carlo Branzaglia, the 2026 Report broadens the investigative scope initiated in the first edition. Alongside Index data, cross-referenced with ISTAT classifications, the document provides in-depth analyses exploring the connection between design culture and innovation within socio-economic metrics, an interpretation of the Made in Italy system, a dedicated focus on food design, and a section addressing scenarios alongside areas currently presenting new challenges.
The Study Center working group features Marika Aakesson, Antonella Andriani, Giovanna Bassino, Vincenzo Castellana, Valentina Fisichella, Alessandra Fontaneto, Luciano Galimberti, and Perla Gianni Falvo, supported by the Federculture Study Center, Federlegno Study Center, and Symbola Foundation. The Report also includes contributions from Enrica Baccini, Alberto Bonisoli, ADI General Department, Bruno Giordano, Emilio Mango, Letizia Mencarini, Andrea Segrè, and Paolo Venturi.
The objective moves beyond defining a single measure of value, aiming instead to construct tools and metrics to analyze connections with broader phenomena: innovation, research, manufacturing chains, regional ecosystems, sustainability, and professional transformations. Indeed, the Report considers design impact a phenomenon encompassing not only the economy but also social, demographic, and energy dimensions. Given inherent complexity, the overall impact defies reduction to isolated performance indicators.
The Path Toward the XXX ADI Compasso d’Oro
Inclusion in the ADI Design Index serves as a prerequisite for entering the ADI Compasso d’Oro. Projects selected in 2026 and 2027 will form the candidate pool for the XXX ADI Compasso d’Oro, scheduled for spring 2028. A two-year observation period yields a cross-disciplinary perspective of the contemporary landscape, linking distinct projects, sectors, and fields.
The Exhibitions: Showcasing the Selection in Milan and L’Aquila
The ADI Design Index 2026 projects remain on display at the ADI Design Museum in Milan until October 15. The layout invites to navigate distinct selection areas, drawing connections among products, systems, services, and research.
Following Milan, the exhibition will move to L’Aquila, the 2026 Italian Capital of Culture, at Palazzo ex OMNI, running from October 30 to November 17, 2026, featuring an opening ceremony on October 29.
The two stops complement the printed Index by sharing the Observatory’s research directly with the public. Both events provide an opportunity to examine projects of varying scales and sectors side by side. By highlighting broader connections and emerging directions, the exhibitions physically manifest the core analytical work driving the Index.