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Yesterday, 22 March, saw the completion, with the award of a company scholarship, of the first educational project 'Collezione Anniversario Giovanni Besenzoni 2023' -  in collaboration with LABA Academy of Fine Arts Brescia and Trentino  - intended for young people and aimed at promoting new studies and ideas with a focus on creative aspects in the interest of the community and on artistic progress.

'Innovation means looking to the future, holding the past by the hand': these are the words that Giovanni Besenzoni loved to say. The award is dedicated to him, a far-sighted and innovative entrepreneur who founded Besenzoni Spa in 1967. Giovanni's brilliant personality and his company philosophy - to create products of the highest quality which are both technologically advanced and have a unique design - perfectly fit in with the idea of this competition. "We were able to introduce the Giovanni Besenzoni award this year thanks to LABA Academy of Fine Arts and it has now become part of the company's 55th anniversary celebrations. For us, it has always been very important to engage with young people, inspiring them and encouraging them to pursue their studies, develop their creativity, and further their development in the field of nautical design, and this award fully reflects this vocation” explains Giorgio Besenzoni, the company's CEO.

 The students in the first and second year of the two-year Industrial & Research Design programme as part of Innovative Design, Advanced CAD and Rapid Prototyping - Second Level Diploma (equivalent to a Master's Degree) in Industrial & Research Design, had to design a gangway project following specific company guidelines.

 The students were divided into teams of two or three, and each team tried their hand at producing a project using graphics tablets, renderings, technical diagrams and 3D CAD files as well as 3D printed prototypes.

The commission of jurors made up of Giorgio Besenzoni, the designer Francesco Forcellini, Filippo Rossi in charge of the workshop, the teachers Marco Ribola and Mauro Martinuz and the director of Laba Valerio Borgonuovo evaluated the works taking into consideration the potential of the project in the current market as the first judgment criterion

 First place was awarded to two brilliant students Francesca De Feudis and Laura Facchetti, whose entries - the Alaia gangway and the Arco ladder-gangway - convinced the panel of judges. In particular, the judges rated Alaia as a design that brings a new vision and decomposition of the 'traditional' gangway, the jury evaluated Alaia as a project that brings a new vision of the "traditional" passerelle and the meticulous attention to the details and materials chosen, while Arco convinced by the originality and the "deconstruction" of the product.

 Three special mentions went to the pairs of students Lorenzo Morotti-Andrea Perodi with the Argand project, Alessia Marenghi -Francesca Marchesini with Horizon, Samuele Bonaventi- Raffaele Panizza with Sally.

 Giorgio Besenzoni concluded: "We wanted to engage with the students in the application of what is one of our iconic products, the gangway, to ask them for new design ideas. The students’ work went far beyond our expectations because the projects we evaluated really impressed us. I personally want to congratulate the winners and all the future designers who participated, by cleverly and imaginatively redesigning one of our most important and iconic products.

 The gangway, among the essential on-board components, has always received special attention from Besenzoni and is now one of the company's most recognised and iconic products. The range of products goes across-the-board ranging from the telescopic hydraulic gangway, to the more complex gangway which features a crane, walkway and ladder, up to the top of the range telescopic three-stage retractable gangways, without forgetting to mention the electric gangways, first introduced to the market by Besenzoni in 2020.