33rd Smau Industrial Design Award

The aim of the Smau Industrial Design Award is to encourage manufacturers to create products of good design and to acknowledge particular instruments - hardware or software systems, or the combination of the two - on display at Smau 2000, Milan, October 19 - 23.

1. The products taking part in the competition will be assessed by the following criteria: functionality and ergonomics; quality of form and execution; thorough preliminary research; originality; usefulness; user-friendliness in relation to product complexity; technological innovation.

2.1 The Smau Industrial Design Award is reserved for products displayed at Smau 2000. To take part in the competition, exhibiting companies will have to fill in the application form enclosed herewith and send it to the Smau Industrial Design Award Secretariat, Via Merano 18, 20127 Milano, by August 31, 2000.
Companies may submit more than one product and also products displayed at previous Smau shows, provided they have not participated in the competition before. By filling in the application form, companies commit themselves to handing in the relating product to the Award Secretariat, in case it is selected by the Jury, for participation in the exhibit organized in Piazzale Italia during Smau 2000. Participation in the contest is free of charge. If special exhibitions or initiatives are organized (ie. Triennale exhibition in 1998), the Award secretariat may decide to charge a fee as a contribution to the expenses involved.

2.2 Only for software products Applications must be accompanied by a report of no more than two pages pointing out the innovative features of the product as well as by a brief description of the software including the name of the manufacturer and of the designers who developed it, the description of its function and of its overall design along with any other information the exhibitor may want to provide. The documentation must provide evidence that the software is original. The date of the product launch on the market will have to be stated explicitly. The companies submitting software products must be able to demonstrate their functions during a Jury meeting to be held in September. Each company will have to perform the demo on their own hardware system they will have to provide. The Jury may decide to examine the product at Smau in exceptional cases only, for example when the equipment needed for the demo cannot be carried easily.

2.3 Video-games are not admitted to the Smau Industrial Design Award.

3. The Jury will make a preliminary selection among all the submissions. During a second meeting the Jury will award a maximum of 10 products. However, in some cases the Jury may decide to make a few exceptions regarding the number of products to be awarded or to assign special mention to products and/or services that stand out for their contribution to technological innovation.

4. The Smau Industrial Design Award Secretariat will organize the material collected with a view to offering the Jury as much information as possible. Participating companies are requested to provide some literature, brochures and/or photos and a short description of the product, pointing out its technical and/or functional features.

5. The material organized by the Secretariat will be examined by the Jury whose decision is unquestionable. In order to allow a better evaluation of the products, the material will be classified by user categories that can be modified each year according to the evolution of the market . This will allow the Jury to more closely evaluate the competing products, though still on the basis of the traditional criteria listed in point 1 of this notice of competition.
Here are the user categories of the 2000 edition:

Hardware
1. equipment for public use - ie. information points, public phones, ATMs, ticket machines, access control machines, etc.;
2. equipment for personal use - ie. cell phones, notebooks, cameras, video-cameras, etc.;
3. private equipment for shared use - ie. photocopiers, UPS, servers, fax machines, cash registers, switchboards, office telephones, etc.;
4. private equipment - ie. products for home use, products for entertainment, GPS, video door phones, etc.

Software
1. basic software;
2. software applications for professional use;
3. software applications for personal use.
4. Exhibitors will be informed about the products that have been selected by the Jury by October 10, 2000.
5. During Smau 2000 the Jury will hold a second meeting to examine the selected products and choose the winners.
6. The Award winners and the Jury's verdict will be proclaimed during Smau 2000. Winning companies will be notified immediately by means of an announcement.
7. The Awards will be given to the exhibiting companies and to the designers of the products. The prize-giving ceremony will take place during an event to which important representatives of the world of industry and design will be invited.

Winning and selected companies may use the Smau Industrial Design Award logo both in their advertising campaigns and on their packaging and products in compliance with the guidelines set by the Award Secretariat.

For more information:
http://www.smau.it/magellano/english/smau00/inizia/pid/bando.htm