Angelo Affinita Award: a European competition for young people and innovation worth 22,000 Euros

In times of economic and social crisis and of innovative ideas, there are those who choose to invest heavily in young people, technological innovation and work.

SAPA with the Patronage of the Angelo Affinita Foundation advertises the European Competition “Angelo Affinita Award” at its first edition

3 awards, for a total of 22,000 Euros, will be awarded to graduation theses, research fellowships or research projects for the best graduates and doctoral students (or who are writing their theses) of European universities wishing to give a deep change to their university and working life

The 3 awards will be distributed as follows:

1° prize equal to € 10.000,00 

2° prize equal to €   7.000,00

3° prize equal to €   5.000,00 

The competition notice begins on 3 April 2017 to end on 30 July 2017. After a period of evaluation of all the theses arrived and complying with the competition notice, the award ceremony in December of this year will take place.

All young graduates and doctoral students (or who are currently writing their theses) of all the Italian and European Universities can participate.

The prizes will be awarded to the authors of the most innovative Graduate thesis and PhD thesis applicable to topics related to the following areas:

• Automotive Engineering,
• Materials Engineering,
• Chemical engineering,
• Mechanical engineering,
• Automation Engineering,
• Industrial chemistry,
• Other technical disciplines related to the Automotive industry

For the graduate theses, the competition is reserved to new graduates who have completed a degree in disciplines related to the topics of the competition between 2015 and 2016.

For the PhD Thesis, the competition is open to those who have achieved the title between 2014 and 2016.

There will be a special Scientific Committee that will judge the best graduate thesis, consisting of three university professors and three expert technicians appointed by SAPA, as well as two independent experts appointed by the Angelo Affinita Foundation.

The participation in the call takes place through a dedicated web page – www.premioangeloaffinita.it and www.angeloaffinitaawards.com – where candidates can fill out a form with their own data, upload the abstract of their thesis and all the necessary documents.

SAPA is always looking for young talents and collaborations with the professors of the best Italian and European universities. For this reason, in addition to the scholarship there is a unique opportunity for students who will participate in the call.

In fact, SAPA reserves the right to offer one or more participants a real  employment contract, to actually develop and realize the research work in the company. It is a great incentive to give value and bet on the future of today’s and tomorrow’s young talents

SAPA has chosen to promote this competition announcement because it strongly targets the technological innovation: only during the last two years the number of patents filed have doubled.

In this sense, the collaboration with Universities and university professors is essential, as evidenced by the words of Roberto Pantani, professor of Transportation Phenomena at the University of Salerno and who collaborated with SAPA

Here are is words:

“I met SAPA during a research project whose goal fell in my field of interest: injection molding of polymer materials. We have been focusing on improving the performance of the starting material and of the product, through the optimization of the injection molding process. 

The interaction with the SAPA staff was immediately positive, thanks to the competence and availability shown by the employees of the company. Since then, collaboration has continued with the same level of understanding.

The expertise of staff (especially the number of employees with an engineering background) and the strong inclination to innovate makes the communication with SAPA particularly effective. In addition, the company has a strong inclination to innovate

The collaboration with SAPA is definitely advisable for those who want to see the concrete application of the research in an industry that combines technological innovation with immediate competitiveness.”

Training and commitment towards new generations have always been a cornerstone of SAPA and of the Angelo Affinita Foundation Onlus, as confirmed by Giovanni Affinita’s words, associate and member of the Board of Directors of SAPA and of the   Angelo Affinita Foundation

“This is the first edition of the Angelo Affinità Award, we hope it is the beginning of a long series. We want to start a continuous and constant collaboration with university professors from the best Italian and European universities.  

SAPA aims at doubling the number of patents by next year: having absolute university-level research and development partners is one of our pillars of continuous improvement. Focusing firmly on young people, on training and continuous growth is part of our DNA.

SAPA is a small industrial reality if compared with the giants who dominate the market of plastics for the automotive industry. A David who must fight against Goliath. 

Patents represent our agility and ability to achieve great goals, by making the most out and developing the ideas of the brightest and most talented young people across Europe.”