In the 4.0 age, what does it mean to combine innovation and technology in the world of Ho.Re.Ca in Italy and abroad?

Answers to this question will be provided by companies selected for the 2021 edition of SMART Label, Host Innovation Award, the competition that will be held at next year’s HostMilano (at Fieramilano, from 22 to 26 October) in collaboration with POLI.Design, Consorzio del Politecnico di Milano, and with the support of ADI (the Italian Industrial Design Association). The aim, as always, is to identify the “smartest solutions” that companies operating in the sector have come up with.

“Right now, it’s essential that firms and manufacturers understand how to take on the challenges the future has in store, and overcome any kind of resistance to change,” says one of the most well-established jury members, head of POLI.design Matteo O. Ingaramo in a comment about the award. “In this sense, Smart Label is the perfect place. Here, all those involved in the sector – including stakeholders – have a chance to generate a virtuous circle, based on emulation and innovation and on taking the smartest ideas from the past as the basis for identifying what will work tomorrow,” Ingaramo continues, stressing that the entire professional hospitality industry is being called upon to immediately rethink its value chain: “For everyone, things are no longer what they once were: expectations are higher now. Alongside paradigms that are now crucial, such as sustainability, safety and digitisation, companies need to concentrate on differentiation of the end product, with particular attention to human contact.”

Another of the better-known jury members and one of Italy’s foremost pastry chefs, Iginio Massari, shares that point of view: “I consider Host a place and I am ready to give my contribution as confirmation that this trade fair is different from all the others, because it leaves an indelible mark on the sector,” the master patissier says. “We set ourselves a very ambitious objective: to help spread – through an event that has a marked international flavour and a direct view of the future – a culture of quality and innovation also in the world of confectionery. We need to find new horizons by following the paths of research and technology, and for this reason the next edition of Host will mean rediscovering the magic of human contact and of innovative ways of doing things.”