Traditionally, culture and economic production have been considered very different dimensions of human experience and social existence. In the last decades of twentieth century, in and around the companies a dialogue began between memory and current activities, heritage and present technical equipment and labour process, objects and working people giving life to products and brand in the world market. A life that goes back to the past and today gives a peculiar identity to every company and its products. This article shows how in Italy, after a scanty experience of sponsoring promoted by many enterprises in 1970s, a systematic commitment by institutions, local authorities, chambers of commerce and industry associations, fostered a spirit of emulation and pushed up company investments in archives and museums, defining feasible models and organizational and operational standards.