The business centre market - Italy (2023)

1.1 Definition and presentation

A business center is a place where companies can rent offices or rooms to host meetings and events. It is part of the category of so-called third locations-shared and collaborative workspaces characterized by a high level of flexibility. However, a business center differs from other third locations in its seniority and very comprehensive offerings. In fact, it is usually fully equipped, intended to be rented by companies for a variable period of time. In Italy, business centers first emerged in 2010, mainly in large cities located in the northern regions of the country. At first people looked at them with a sense of uncertainty, not realizing at all the enormous potential that such a new way of working would bring in the years to come. But then, year after year, business centers gained much acceptance in society, and their establishment spread throughout the country. So while at first these spaces were used only by freelancers and journalists, who could easily change the place where they worked, a growing number of start-ups, task forces and departments of large companies have moved to adopt this innovative solution. Thus, business centers are now an established alternative to the traditional office and working from home in Italy. Almost a year after the Covid-19 emergence, the spread of co-working spaces is resuming its upward trend, in part because of the greater level of flexibility that people currently seek. Today, more than 700 co-working spaces can be counted, serving a total number of 570,000 employees.

In Italy, the most important business centers are Regus, which has 58 buildings located in the city of Milan, WeWork and Talent Garden, which has spaces in the most important Italian cities.