Entries open for the Design Innovation Award at Genoa International Boat Show
Design Innovation Award gala Entries for the seventh edition of the Design Innovation Award are now open.
Supported by Confindustria Nautica, the Italian Marine Industry Association, and the Genoa International Boat Show, the awards seek to celebrate design excellence and innovation in the yachting sector. The event features eleven product categories, special awards dedicated to innovation, career and talent, plus honourable mentions for products deserving of particular attention.
The seventh edition will take place as part of the 66th Genoa International Boat Show, scheduled to be held from 1 to 6 October 2026.
New for this year, the Design Innovation Awards is expanding its awards system by introducing a category dedicated to marine components, alongside that for marine accessories and equipment. This decision reflects the event’s continuous evolution and its desire to highlight the design, technological and innovative contributions of a segment that is strategic for the competitiveness and development of the entire yachting supply chain.
How to enter the Design Innovation Award
All exhibitors at the event are eligible to enter by submitting original products presented at the Genoa International Boat Show and produced within the past year.
Entries must be submitted exclusively online by 18 September 2026. In order to submit an entry, exhibitors must fill out the application form available on the official Genoa International Boat Show website.
All submitted entries will be assessed according to criteria that recognise design quality, innovation, sustainability, technical and scientific research, and the ability to interpret the evolution of contemporary yachting.
The winners will be announced on Friday 2 October during the Design Innovation Award gala evening.
Paolo Brescia chairs Design Innovation Award jury
The international jury will be chaired by Paolo Brescia, architect and co-founder of the OBR – Open Building Research studio, and a leading figure in contemporary architecture. Following his collaboration with Renzo Piano, he founded OBR in 2000; the studio has since been responsible for numerous projects including the Casa della Vela and the Waterfront di Levante in Genoa.
Brescia says: “I am honoured to chair the jury of the Design Innovation Award. I like to think of this award as a call to action for conscious and responsible design, one that combines aesthetics with quality. Human activity has a massive impact on our planet. With this award, we would like to foster a vision of the future that is shaped not by adapting the environment to us, but by adapting ourselves to the environment. It is my firm belief that the underlying value of this award is, above all, ethical, encouraging projects that do not simply add objects to the world, but which achieve more with less, moving beyond sensationalism and standardisation.
“I would like to thank president Piero Formenti, general manager Marina Stella and the entire Confindustria Nautica association for the trust they have placed in me”
The jury includes leading Italian and international experts from the worlds of design, industry, research, media and institutions.
Piero Formenti, president of Confindustria Nautica, says: “The Design Innovation Award was created to recognise the value of innovation as a driving force for the development of the yachting industry. This decision is consistent with the very nature of the Genoa International Boat Show, which is not only one of the sector’s most important international events, but also a sector-wide tool designed to support the growth of the entire supply chain. Ever since its inception, Confindustria Nautica has sought to establish an award capable of expressing the sector’s values with authority, entrusting the assessment to an independent jury composed of international experts, which ensures expertise, rigour and impartiality.”
“The Design Innovation Award is now much more than just an accolade: it is a forum for open dialogue between companies, designers and design culture, capable of providing, year after year, an authoritative insight into the evolution of contemporary yachting. The ever-increasing quality of the entries confirms the sector’s vitality and the ability of companies to innovate, experiment and anticipate market changes,” adds Marina Stella, general manager of Confindustria Nautica.
New show additions
This year, Yachting Ventures has partnered with the Genoa Internationl Boat Show to introduce an International Startup Zone and Startup Demo Day.
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