Simei rewards Innovation: winners of the 2024 "Lucio Mastroberardino" Innovation Challenge announced
News General news
The winners of the 2024 "Lucio Mastroberardino" Innovation Challenge, the
SIMEI competition (Fiera Milano Rho, 12-15 November) focusing on the most interesting innovations in technology applied to the wine and beverage supply chain, were unveiled. The awards, which will be presented during the inaugural ceremony of the 30th edition of the leading international exhibition for oenology and bottling machinery (12/11, 11:30, conference room, Hall 2), reveal an ever more competitive (almost 2.5 billion euros in exports and a trade balance surplus of more than 2.1 billion), innovative sector oriented towards the rationalisation of work and resources. In the foreground, research into materials and the use of artificial intelligence at the service of production that is increasingly respectful of the environment, sustainable and adaptable to the varying needs of the market.
TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AWARD
The Technical-Scientific Committee awarded the title of TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AWARD to the most promising proposals in the field of technological innovation. The award-winning entries range from a filter with a low carbon footprint for the treatment of wine and lees, the Flavy X-Treme 3 in 1 by Bucher Vaslin, to an automatic system for the filtration of high concentration liquids, the Active Flow by Enomeccanica Bosio, and La Semplice by Gamba, a mobile washing system for the internal cleaning of tanks. There is also Parsec's EVO2-FERM, a device for managing nutrition during fermentation, and Puleo's Prexa Infinity, a pneumatic press with integrated nitrogen production for processing in an inert atmosphere. On the front of artificial intelligence and data collection, P.E. Labellers is given an award for TelescoPE, a system installed on AI-based labellers for data collection and processing, and Omnia Technologies for HMI i-Get, a human-machine interface for improving the efficiency of production processes.
GREEN INNOVATION AWARD
Instead, the solutions awarded with the GREEN INNOVATION AWARD stand out for their environmental commitment, this year particularly lively on the packaging and closure solutions front. Amcor Capsules focuses on aluminium and receives two mentions for STELVIN® Goes Greener, a low carbon footprint screw cap made with recycled aluminium, and Essentielle, a plastic-free sparkling wine cap composed mainly of aluminium and a part paper. Another completely plastic-free capsule created by Crealis wins the Green Innovation Award, that is Symbiosis, a capsule made of paper (primary component) and aluminium. Vinventions, on the contrary, focuses on plastic, winning a mention for Nomacorc Ocean, a closure made with recycled plastic collected from the oceans. The category is completed by the Recycling Gas System, Bertolaso ׀ Omnia Technologies, a technical gas recovery system in the bottling
phase, and the Low Emissions Distillery by Frilli ׀ Omnia Technologies, a steam generator for low-energy distilleries.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Finally, the NEW TECHNOLOGY award goes to Cork Supply's X100 (AI-based technology for measuring the rate of oxygen transfer in stoppers); Defranceschi's ceramic Barrique Bottoms (used to prevent taste defects due to untoasted bottoms and heat by induction); FOSS Italia's WineScanTM 3 SO2 (a rapid and multiparameter analysis platform); the Filling valve 206 by Gai Macchine (a filling valve for still liquid foods such as wine, water, juices and liqueurs); AVAFERM ® Spark by HTS Enologia (tool for the management of nutrition and oxygen supply in fermentation); AromaLoc® by JU.CLA.S. (system for limiting the loss of aromatic compounds during fermentation); Libero beverage and Libero wine by Permeare ׀ Omnia Technologies (a dealcoholisation system with semi-permeable membranes); Heli-X ® by PMH Vinicole (a must pump with low impact on grape integrity); ALcryo Vortex 10 by Siprem
International (a continuous cooling system for crushed and destemmed grapes); WQS Nomasense O2 by Vinventions (a connected oxygen control and management system during winemaking); Win&Fit by
Win&Tech ׀ Omnia Technologies (a tool for the automatic measurement of the wine filterability index).
