Impact Award: winning projects focus on the environment and local communities

Launched in March by POLIMI Graduate School of Management with CDP, the first edition of the award involved businesses and public administrations and dedicated a special prize to SMEs in southern Italy

The award-winning organisations confirm the key role of Southern Italy as a laboratory for concrete and lasting solutions, united by their ability to tackle complex challenges through the targeted use of technology
 

Milan, 29 May 2025 - From the development of green technologies to the creation of anti-violence centres, through recycling projects and new housing solutions: the eight projects awarded in the first edition of the Impact Award look to the future of local areas by combining social and environmental innovation. The award, promoted by POLIMI Graduate School of Management, together with the Polytechnic University of Bari and the Tiresia research centre, in collaboration with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), involved companies and public administrations that have implemented initiatives strongly focused on sustainability.

Dario Scannapieco, Chief Executive Officer of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, said: "The Impact Award projects tell stories of excellence, in Italy and abroad, and of innovative territories. This award has a long history, the result of a profound cultural and operational transformation at CDP, which today focuses on sustainability and impact by recognising successful experiences and stimulating emulative processes. The Impact Award is not just a prize, but a commitment to promoting those who achieve sustainable growth, capable of stimulating systemic change."

Vittorio Chiesa, President of POLIMI Graduate School of Management, stated: "To be truly transformative, innovation must start from the real needs of local areas. We are proud to have rewarded projects capable of generating concrete impact, combining strategic vision and local roots. These companies represent an Italy that experiments, innovates and builds the future based on responsibility. And it is precisely from there that new leadership can emerge, capable of combining business and impact, competence and vision.”

Launched in March 2025, the award was divided into two categories: the first dedicated to medium and large companies, infrastructure companies, entities active in international cooperation and public administrations that signed a financing agreement with CDP in 2024; the second reserved for SMEs in Southern Italy, with registered offices and operations in the southern regions of Italy.

The eight award-winning organisations stand out for their adoption of targeted innovations aimed at generating measurable and lasting impacts. All projects are consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), demonstrating that economic development can have positive impacts on people, communities and the environment.

The winning projects

Social Category

• Nextchem S.p.A. (Lazio): developed the Green Innovation District, an industrial research district focused on technologies for energy transition and green chemistry.
• Academo S.r.l. (Lombardy): built the new campus of the University of Milan, expanding its teaching capacity by 20% with innovative spaces, providing employment opportunities for prisoners.
• Fonplata (South America): led sustainable urban development projects in Latin America, with funding for water management and efficiency operations, the construction of sanitation infrastructure and climate resilience projects.
• Municipality of Melilli (Sicily): created an anti-violence centre and shelter on property confiscated from the mafia to provide practical support to women who are victims of violence and minors who witness violence and abuse.

Environmental Category and Special Category SMEs in Southern Italy

• IRRITEC S.p.A. (Sicily): has invested in research and development funding for sustainable technologies for agriculture, circular economy models and the construction of photovoltaic plants.
• ATM (Lombardy): launched the Full Electric Plan for sustainable urban mobility, which also includes the renewal and expansion of the fleet with electric buses and charging infrastructure
• Municipality of Corleone (Sicily): launched an integrated platform for the collection and treatment of solid urban waste serving more than 20 municipalities in the area.
• AraBat S.r.l. (Puglia): has developed green hydrometallurgical recycling technology for the recovery of critical materials from spent lithium batteries, with reduced environmental impact.

The selected projects respond to the specific needs of the areas in which they were developed. From the applications submitted by SMEs in southern Italy, this region emerges as a laboratory for sustainable innovation, where local roots translate into the ability to propose effective solutions to complex social and environmental challenges.

The jury – composed of sustainability and innovation experts from the worlds of business, public administration and international cooperation, as well as representatives from institutions, academia and the economic sector – selected the winners from a shortlist of finalists chosen from over 130 applications. The projects were evaluated by a team from the Politecnico di Milano on the basis of their intentionality, measurability and additionality.

In addition to symbolic recognition, the winners will have access to a training course provided by the POLIMI Graduate School of Management, designed to strengthen their business know-how and project planning skills and amplify the impact of their initiatives on local areas and people.