Nominator: Domenico Sturabotti

Nominator's statement

Alberto Piovesan stands out for his ability to integrate design, advanced technology, and real-world impact, moving beyond form toward a truly transformative function. His career, spanning industry and innovation, reflects a vision of design as an enabling tool that enhances safety, performance, and quality of life in complex environments.

Through his work at D-Air Lab, he has contributed to redefining the relationship between the human body, technology, and extreme conditions. The 75°06’ project exemplifies this approach: an advanced wearable system supporting scientific missions in Antarctica, combining design, engineering, and research.

His multidisciplinary mindset, commitment to experimentation, and capacity to transfer innovation across fields make his contribution particularly relevant today. For these reasons, I strongly support his nomination for this award.

ESA SPACE SUIT

Already honoured at the ESA European Astronaut Centre, the project primarily focused on ensuring the high standards of protection and recognizability required in outer space.

The suit is designed in two main layers. The first one is a high-tech textile layer, capable of ensuring all vital functions of astronauts, with a special focus on applying ESA’s visual identity to the product and enhancing visibility in deep space. The second layer consists of a rigid exoskeleton, designed to enhance physical strength and support astronauts in performing physically demanding tasks.

WORKAIR

WorkAir is the airbag for protecting workers at height, most widely used by companies to reduce injuries due to falls.

Certified as PPE and entirely designed and manufactured in Italy, WorkAir applies the Intelligent Clothing technology derived from systems developed by Dainese for competitive athletes to the workplace.

It provides effective protection for the back, chest and vital organs, inflating its airbag in just 40 milliseconds from the moment a fall is detected.

75°06'S ANTARCTIC SUIT

The 75°06’S Antarctic Suit was created to provide scientists and researchers working in extreme environments an innovative clothing solution that can effectively protect them at -80°.

The suit is composed of two different layers: the undersuit and the outer shell.

The former was inspired by the human skin, and it is designed to regulate both body temperature and transpiration to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The second layer, the outer shell, is designed to isolate the body from the extreme cold thanks to its constructions made of 6 different materials, each with specific function to achieve maximum thermal performance.