How is it possible to combine technology and design in the world of Ho.Re.Ca? What are smartest solutions today for the world of professional hospitality?

These are the questions that will be put to the companies chosen to take part in the next edition of SMART Label, Host Innovation Award – ones that are even harder to answer given the situation we now find ourselves in. This award, organised by Fiera Milano and HostMilano (which will be held at fieramilano, from 22 to 26 October 2021), in collaboration with POLI.Design, the Politecnico di Milano Consortium, and with the support of ADI (Italy’s Industrial Design Association), which has never lost sight of its mission based on the pursuit of quality.

More and more firms are taking part: the number of those hoping for victory rose from 172 in the first edition to 217 last year, with a total of 714 concerns of all sizes taking part, from Italy and from abroad. And the number of winners has also increased since the first edition of SMART Label: in 2013 there were 36 (with 4 special mentions), 47 in 2019 (47 Smart Labels, plus 6 Innovation Smart Labels, 3 Green Smart Labels and 5 Special Mentions By Iginio Massari), with the result that in the last three editions alone over 150 Awards and 20 special commendations were made to leading players in the world of Ho.Re.Ca in Italy and abroad.

And once again for this next edition, the degree of innovation competing firms have put into the creation of “smarter solutions” will be decided by a seven-member jury, including university lecturers, professionals and experts (Italian or otherwise), in the fields of design, hospitality and energy saving. Pastry-making king Iginio Massari will be returning to Host after last year’s success. “Host is a real hotbed of creativity,” he says, “and the whole world comes to it here, just outside Milan. We have to find new horizons by taking the route of research and technology, and for this reason the 2021 edition of the event will mean rediscovering the magic of human contact and an innovative approach to production.”

The focus on the relationship between innovation, technology and design will also be the compass that another familiar member of the SMART Label jury, Matteo O. Ingaramo, will be using to help him give his verdict on the ideas presented. “Right now, innovation means finding something slightly different from what was there before. Because innovation is now also about the way something is used, and not just about its technological content. Not to mention the fact that even more attention will need to be focused on the benefits the final result brings.”

This is why, the president of POLI.Design stresses, the entire professional hospitality industry is now being called upon to review its value chain. “It is fundamental for companies and producers to be able to understand how to take on the challenges of the future, overcoming all forms of resistance to change. And Smart Label is the perfect place to do this. Here, operators and stakeholders can use yesterday’s smart ideas to gain an insight into what will work tomorrow,” Ingaramo adds, finally.