It has become a regular and is indeed now an unmissable feature of HostMilano: 2019 sees the return of the SMART Label award for innovation in the field of professional hospitality promoted by Host–Fiera Milano, in collaboration with POLI.design and sponsored by ADI, the Industrial Design Association.
It is aimed at all companies that have signed up for HostMilano 2019, taking place from Friday 18 to Tuesday 22 October 2019 at Fiera Milano, Rho.
Entries for a product or design project currently being developed may be submitted up to 29 April 2019 by companies that have enrolled for HostMilano 2019 following the procedure set out on the www.polidesign.net website, and using a special digital template. Each company may submit one entry only.
SMART Label 2019 will consist of three prize categories: a Smart Label for products with distinctive innovative content, the Innovation Smart Label for products with a high content of innovation that seek to break with and move beyond established trends in the industry, and a Green Smart Label, for products with a high level of innovative content that distinguish themselves from sector trends with regard to energy saving, environmental compatibility and eco-sustainability.
The two Special Mentions will go to products that are distinctive for their application of new materials that contribute to energy saving or energy recovery, or for the introduction of digital connections between products in an Internet of Things perspective, aimed at improving interaction between and the use of individual products.
Projects that win recognition in these areas will obtain a “Label”, a distinctive plaque that will highlight them at Host 2019 and at any other future promotional occasions. They will also become part of the set of “Smart Products”.
At HostMilano 2019 a dedicated exhibition and a specially created display sequence will give additional visibility to these SMART and innovative ideas. HostMilano has become an unmissable two-yearly event presenting everything that can help make an establishment successful: from the basic ingredients and semi-finished products used to machinery and equipment, furnishings and tableware.
And it is the ever closer links between technology and hospitality and the ability to pick up on future trends, which are at the very heart of HostMilano across the entire hospitality sector, that will be recognised through the SMART Label initiative.
The figures show that 497 nominations have been made over the last three editions, 156 companies have been honoured with the SMART Label and more than 20 special SMART Label Innovation awards have been made to 20 products capable of driving significant changes in the sectors in which they operate.
“The SMART Label numbers indicate how much this award has become a point of reference for identifying the best ‘smart’ solutions and products resulting from advanced scientific, technological and production processes with appreciable advantages for increasing quality of life,” claims Matteo Ingaramo, Director of POLI.design.
“I believe that awards such as this, which arise from an in-depth collaboration between institutions such as POLI.design and Fiera Milano, are essential in order to stimulate and enhance innovative ideas capable of using technology in an advanced and useful manner, and being appreciated by users and society as a whole. This is a positive vision that positions this initiative as the leading technological and commercial offer in the hospitality sector on a global scale.”
