Angelo Affinita Award: the day has finally come! Here are all the details…

After a long journey, the winners of the Angelo Affinita Prize, a Europe-wide competition for graduates, have been awarded 22.000 euros!

It seems like yesterday we launched the European competition for the Angelo Affinita prize on SAPA’s website. I must say that seeing hundreds of students, from Universities all over Europe, working together to a research project aimed at innovation, bearing the name of my father, made me emotional.

The selection has been strict, but fair: the scientific commission, comprised of three university professors and three expert technicians appointed by SAPA, together with two independent experts appointed by the Angelo Affinita Foundation, has judged with great objectivity.

The amount of work and the participation from students and universities was so high that we had to postpone the award ceremony.

However, now the event is near. It is going to happen on Wednesday, April 11^th, at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Naples Federico II.

The event will engage over 200 students and well-known lecturers.

Three prizes will be awarded, totalling 22.000 euros:

1° prize of € 10.000,00 to Paolo Vecchione, for his thesis “Self reinforced polyamide composite laminates”.

Paolo Vecchione has ranked 1st in the Angelo Affinita Award 2017

2° prize of € 7.000,00 to Rossella Arrigo, with her thesis “High-performance polymer based nano-composites: functionalization and immobilization of nano-structures”.

Rossella Arrigo has ranked 2nd in the Angelo Affinita Award 2017

3° prize of € 5.000,00 to Flippo Camisani, with his thesis ““Generating of data related to the breaking strength of composite materials with thermoplastic polymer matrix, for automotive field”.

Filippo Camisani has ranked 3rd in the Angelo Affinita Award 2017

The three students and winners of 10.000, 7.000 and 5.000 euros scholarships, will be awarded on Wednesday, April 11^th, during a conference which will take place from 14:30 to 18:30, in the Aula Magna Massimilla, at the University of Naples Federico II, in Piazzale Tecchio, Naples.

During the event, professors and engineers will lecture on research and the importance of closing the gap between the theoretical approach of the universities and the practical approach of the business context.

Among them, Prof. Salatino, President of the Polytechnic and Science School and Prof. Acierno, General Director of CRdC Technologies, will talk about their professional and academic experience.

Prof. Emilio Esposito, professor of Management Engineering, will follow, together with Flavio Farroni, a researcher in Dynamic of the Vehicle and Dr Amedeo Giurazza, CEO of Vertis SGR.

Enzo Agliardi, economics journalist, will moderate the event, together with Eng. Francesco Castagna, professor of business development management. At the end of the awarding ceremony, there will be an open session with students.

Now I would like to shortly talk about something essential. Follow me for a minute. It will be worth it.

The aim of this award is not just to prize deserving students, but also to make people aware of a world that is still undervalued today.

It is indeed the hard work of the “Innovation in Engineering” team, a whole department focussed on innovation, that allowed SAPA to achieve important objectives, and made it the first One Shot™ Company in the world.

Another striking example is that last year we filed six patents and we thought we would double this amount over the following year.

Instead, we managed to file 14, totalling 20 patents, exceeding expectations.

That is the magic of research and innovation.

SAPA has decided to contribute and will continue over the next few years.

I look forward to seeing you on the day of the awards ceremony.

Giovanni Affinita

Chief Sales Strategist and member of the Board of SAPA