Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – A journey through the history of innovation, from industrial machinery to household appliances, from telecommunications to automation, to illustrate how new technologies were imagined, represented, and presented to the public at the Fiera Milano before becoming part of people's daily lives. The exhibition "Prototypes of the Future.
Machines, Patents, Inventions, Technology, and Desires at the Milan Fair,” created and curated by Fondazione Fiera Milano in collaboration with Assolombarda. This exhibition unfolds through archival photographs, posters, advertisements, and images of machinery from the Fondazione Fiera Milano Historical Archives, forging a dialogue between past and present, transforming the space into a captivating showcase of the future, filled with insights, discoveries, and new possibilities.
The exhibition is part of the initiatives launched on the occasion of CES Unveiled Milan, the official European leg, for the first time in Italy, of "Road to CES" to promote CES (Consumer Electronics Show), the leading global trade fair for technological innovation promoted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which takes place annually in Las Vegas, and finds its natural home in Assolombarda, the symbolic place of the Lombardy business system and their ability to innovate and compete on international markets.
“The images in our Archive tell the story of the moment when people first encountered the technology that would change their work and habits.
Today, as artificial intelligence ushers in a new era of transformation, this story helps us understand the value of trade fairs: making innovation visible, allowing companies to showcase its applications and people to understand its possibilities. For over a century, Fiera Milano has been one of the key venues where Italy can showcase its extraordinary capacity for innovation to the world,” says Giovanni Bozzetti, President of Fondazione Fiera Milano. “Presenting this exhibition at Assolombarda, during CES Unveiled Milan, means recognizing the contribution of companies to the region's growth and extending the discussion on technological change beyond the event itself.
Our archive thus becomes a tool for interrogating the past and bringing citizens closer to the themes of innovation.”
The challenge is to accompany it, encouraging its diffusion throughout the production system and enabling people to seize its opportunities. As this exhibition reminds us, innovation means looking ahead, but also knowing how to leverage the experiences and skills built over time. In this journey, Milan and the Assolombarda Quadrilatero have everything it takes to continue being a laboratory of innovation and an international point of reference. The exhibition “Prototypes of the Future. Machines, patents, inventions, technology and desires at the Fiera di Milano” can be visited free of charge from today, October 19, to January 29, 2027, in the lounge of Palazzo Assolombarda, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm. Since the first Campionaria in 1920, the Fiera di Milano has always been a privileged showcase for innovation, the place where what is born in the world of production is presented to the public. Over the years, we've been able to experience not just goods, but concrete technological possibilities and evolutions: from machines that are changing jobs to household appliances that are transforming daily life, to telecommunications and automation that are redefining time and distance.
On the occasion of CES Unveiled Milan, the European leg of the world's leading trade show dedicated to technological innovation, the exhibition brings this history into dialogue with the present and explores innovation as a culture of exhibition: not just what has been invented, but how the new has been imagined, represented, and presented. The exhibition leads visitors through five thematic areas: "The Machine as Spectacle," where displays of gears, presses, and operating systems draw glances, questions, and the wonder of visitors to the fair; "The Patent as Promise," which showcases solutions for work and home conceived by inventors and small businesses, but which still require trust and a chance before reaching the general public; "Technology Becomes Everyday," the moment when, conveyed by the Milan Fair, innovations cease to be mere novelties and become part of everyday culture; "The Future Seen from Yesterday," which looks to the future through the forms, materials, and expectations of another era, asking the question: which promises of today will become the habits of tomorrow?; "Milan Meets the World," which highlights the ability to network, thanks to relationships and encounters between businesses, people, and knowledge, through images that depict a city capable of connecting those who invent, those who produce, and those who seek new opportunities.
Through the enhancement of the Fondazione Fiera Milano Historical Archive, which houses over a kilometer of documents, photographs, catalogs, films, and graphic materials, the Fair thus emerges as a space for anticipation and a meeting point between production and the market, where technological progress becomes visible and tangible. Palazzo Assolombarda thus becomes the natural home for this small "sample of the future," featuring archival photographs, posters, advertisements, and images of machinery.
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