10th edition, 25 prizes, more than 100 active partners and more than 2.000.000 euros worth of prizes. Here are the figures for PGMX 2031, also known as the Gaetano Marzotto Prize 2020: the first award for innovation in Italy and one of the most important in the world. The announcement and award ceremony for this year's young winners was held online on November 30.
The Gaetano Marzotto Award is an initiative conceived and promoted by the Marzotto Project Association, in collaboration with InnovUp and M31, with the aim of identifying and promoting the development of new business ideas, that are able to meet economic and financial sustainability criterias and at the same time generate concrete benefits for the Italian territory, at the same time bring concrete benefits to the Italian territory, mainly in terms of employment. Its Company Idea Prize is organised in collaboration with many national innovative entities, including I3P.
Innovative start-up FMP Biotechnologies won the €50,000 Company Idea Prize with its Vacuum Stone Device project: a medical device for the endourological treatment of urinary calculosis, a condition that affects around 250 million people worldwide. Salvatore Majorana, president of the award jury, stated that the young company won the prestigious award because they "...developed a solution with a great impact on the population, merging medical science and engineering with a solid patent coverage".
HeidelbergCement Group awarded the Italcementi Special Prize to the start-up Centauroos, pre-incubated at I3P, for proposing 3D printing of concrete for the restoration of historic city centres using demolition waste as the primary material. Stefano Allevi, Product Innovation Manager at Italcementi - HeidelbergCement Group, explained that Centauroos was selected "because it aims to use an innovative technology such as 3D printing to restore historical city centres and Italian villages affected by earthquakes. It's a perfect example of how future-oriented technology can be used to support our past."
The UniCredit Start Lab Special Prize, in the Company Idea Prize category, was awarded to the startup T-REM3DIE (Tendon Repair Medical Device), which also pre-incubated at I3P. This project focuses on an innovative customised technology for restoring connective tissue injuries that was developed in the Bioinspired Nanomechanics laboratory at the DISEG (Department of Structural, Building and Geotechnical Engineering) at Politecnico di Torino. Francesca Perrone, Head of Start Lab & Development Programs at UniCredit, stated: "The start-ups we rewarded stood out for their projects' potential. What impressed us about T-REM3DIE was the technological aspects of the solution".
"Innovation never stopped. Not even during the most difficult times in 2020. With more than 600 start-ups competing, the Gaetano Marzotto Prize - 2031 confirms itself as the most important Italian competition and platform for developing projects from medical to digital, from fashion to mechanics and artificial intelligence" stated Cristiano Seganfreddo, director and founder of the prize. "A huge design energy is reflected in 25 award-winning and valuable start-ups, companies with a fresh view of the world. They are physical proof that there is only one way: innovation."
