Smart Label, Host Innovation Award

Once again this year the award ceremony for the SMART Label, Host Innovation Award projects was held, an award dedicated to innovation in the field of professional hospitality promoted by HostMilano, in partnership with POLI.design and sponsored by ADI, the Italian Industrial Design Association.

Almost 80 applications were submitted, with more than half of the aspiring winners coming from the pivotal sector of HOST, which refers to professional equipment for the kitchens of restaurants and catering formats of the future: about twenty from the Bar, Coffee machines, Vending, Coffee, Tea segment and more than 10% from Tablaware.

The 2021 edition focused on the theme of the post COVID-19 pandemic restart in a sector, that of hospitality, among those most affected by it.

“While Italy looks to the future with positivity for a return to the “normality” we all longed for, the world of hospitality and catering is also beginning to see a restart that suggests a new season to be exploited to the full, but always with great attention to making its business and its offer to customers sustainable and innovative.” These are the words of POLI.design CEO and scientific head of recognition Matteo O. Ingaramo, which summarise the soul and hopes of the new edition.

An international jury of experts composed of Matteo O. Ingaramo, Shujoy Chujoy and Shujoy Chujoy will evaluate the proposals. Ingaramo, Shujoy Chakraborty and Fayun Zhu, as well as Francesco Zurlo, Vice-Principal of the Design School of Politecnico di Milano and President of POLI.design, Venanzio Arquilla, Associate Professor at the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano, and the Master Pastry Chef Iginio Massari.

Also for the 2021 edition the Design Talks have been back, a series of in-depth seminars dedicated to the most topical themes applied to the professional hospitality sector and aimed at architects and experts in the sector looking for opportunities for professional updating.

All the winners of SMART LABEL 2021

•  Innovation SMART Label, dedicated to products with a high innovation content:

• Carimali s.p.a
•  Iberital
• T&S Brass and Bronze Works Inc.
•  UNOX S.p.A

• Green SMART Label, for energy saving, environmental compatibility and eco-sustainability:

• Castel Mac Srl
•  DIHR ALI GROUP SRL
•  Epta S.p.A
•  Metalúrgica Skymsen Ltda.
•  Moretti Forni spa
•  Pedrali spa

•  SMART Label, dedicated to products capable of determining significant evolutions in the sectors:

•  Blupura srl
•  Dalla Corte
• Distform | Mychef
• Eureka – Conti Valerio Srl
•  EVCO SpA
•  Evoca S.p.A.
•  Fiorenzato MC Srl
•  Gebr. Echtermann GmbH & Co. KG
•  Italynnova S.r.l.
– LOELSBERG – Inh. Bernd Lölsberg
– MEIKO Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG
– QUALITYFRY S.L.
– RATIONAL Italia Srl
– RCR Cristalleria Italiana
– VITO AG

Products as new opportunities for growth and recovery in one of the most affected industries by the effects of COVID-19 and which is ready to get back into the game. The need to respond to the new needs of customers and the contextual change of direction in terms of languages and methods of providing services.
The theme of the HO.RE.CA. is playing a leading role in the new marketing and consumption strategies. The whole sector today has to deal with contexts rich in stimuli and resources, fundamental for the development of the country.

Some of the main issues will be analyzed and developed by the companies that will participate in the new edition of Smart Label, Host Innovation Award, the recognition dedicated to innovation in the field of professional hospitality promoted by Host – Fiera Milano, in partnership with POLI .design and sponsored by ADI, Association for Industrial Design.

Now in its fifth edition, the competition is aimed at all companies registered in HostMilano 2021, the world’s leading event in the hotel sector, which will present the latest news in terms of equipment, raw materials, gears and semi-finished products from Friday 22 to Tuesday 26 October 2021.

More than 50 companies awarded during the last edition, selected from three different categories: Innovation SMART Label, dedicated to products with a high innovation content, Green SMART Label, the award for products that stand out for innovation compared to industry trend in reference to energy saving, and the SMART Label recognition dedicated to products capable of determining significant evolutions in the reference sectors of your company.
5 special mentions were added to the three prizes by judge Iginio Massari, considered one of the best pastry chefs of our times.

HostMilano is in fact an unmissable biennial event to discover what a successful venue can do: from raw materials to semi-finished products, from machinery to equipment, from furnishings to the table. Thanks to the ability to grasp future trends, the companies that have won the Smart Label, Host Innovation Award have been able to highlight and confirm the extreme vitality of a sector capable of continually renewing itself, constantly improving and customizing its offer.

The mutual collaboration between Host, Fiera Milano and POLI.design makes it possible to verify in the field the opportunities for the expansion of the market, stimulating the development of innovative projects capable of responding to the needs of a constantly evolving sector, encouraging a real exchange of know-how and trying to induce all companies at an international level to create ever-changing contexts.
It is precisely this union between the academic world and the labor market that makes Smart Label, Host Innovation Award the flagship for all companies that apply in the HO.RE.CA.

“The numbers of Smart Label, Host Innovation Award indicate how much this award has become, year after year, a point of reference for identifying the best solutions and ‘intelligent’ products resulting from advanced scientific, technological and production processes and how these have led to significant improvements. of the quality of life “– states Matteo Ingaramo, CEO of POLI.design –” These awards, the result of the intense collaboration between the academy and the world of professions and entrepreneurship such as POLI.design and Fiera Milano, are fundamental for incentivize and enhance innovative solutions that make technology the key to improving the well-being of individuals and society in general. Smart Label, Host Innovation Award is an opportunity to encourage companies in the hospitality sector to take new and stimulating paths in innovative and functional way, opening unprecedented scenarios that thanks to design respond to problems soc complexes “.

“Smart Label, Host Innovation Award is the award that better than any other recognizes the most advanced innovation and chooses the most intelligent solutions within the Italian and international Ho.Re.Ca. world. And it does so at a time when the universe of professional hospitality looks to quality and research to shape the trends of the future “, comments Simona Greco, Exhibition Director of Fiera Milano.
“This is the exact reason why the best stage for the new edition of Smart Label could only be an international platform like HostMilano, capable even in a restart phase like the current one, to confirm itself as more and more hubs of global equipment, and to give impetus to innovation, thanks also to the investments that Fiera Milano plans on these issues “.

Until May 31th, 2021, companies registered at Host Milano 2021 will be able to submit the application for their own product or project under construction, according to the methods indicated on the website www.polidesign.net, through a special digital template (no others will be accepted application forms). Each company may submit only one application to participate.
The complete regulation is available on the websites www.host.fieramilano.it and www.polidesign.net.

Application Form

The Commission will be composed of 5 members, selected from professors, professionals and international experts, with proven experience or qualification in the field of Design, hospitality and energy saving. The Commission will evaluate the candidate products / services / projects on the basis of the following fundamental elements: the efficiency of the product or service functions, the effectiveness of the performance of the product or the usability of the service, the innovativeness of the methods of use and technologies, and the benefits for users.