NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS Award: Umbrian start-up MaterieUnite recognised

On 16 September 2021, the New European Bauhaus awards were handed out. This initiative aims to break down the walls between science, technology, art and culture in order to make our places more sustainable, beautiful and inclusive.

As noted by President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union address, the EU budget allocated to the project exceeds €85 million for the 2021-2022 programmes. The event, which was opened by a video message from the President herself, was attended by Commissioners Mariya Gabriel (Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth) and Elisa Ferreira (Cohesion and Reforms) as well as the 60 finalists, 17 of whom were Italian and 2 Umbrian.

A jury made up of 80 official partners of the initiative from all corners of Europe and from the most diverse sectors, selected the projects after evaluating more than 2000 applications.

Both proposals from our territory were in the category "New European Bauhaus Rising Stars", for young people under 30 years of age.

Materieunite in sub-category 5 - "Product and Lifestyle", promotes permanent and temporary spaces using sustainable raw materials, recyclable or recovered from supply chain waste, while City of Echoes (San Giustino), in sub-group 10 - "Interdisciplinary education models", experiments with an educational strategy complementary to the school/university one, based on direct interaction with citizens.

MaterieUnite was the winner in its category, obtaining a prize of 15,000 euros and making all Italians (three winners out of 20) and especially Umbria proud. Further information on the award is available here. 

View the awards ceremony (MaterieUnite is at minute 54).

The Umbrian start-up  MaterieUnite, which took part in the #ReloadUmbria Challenge, is based in Terni, operates in the sector of recycled materials and digital production, producing fittings with recycled cardboard. The entrepreneurial award is an expression of the value of public-private collaboration.