International Award "The Technovisionaries" 2026

Promoted by Women&Tech® – Association of Women and Technologies – ETS, the International Tecnovisionarie® Award is given to women who, in their professional activity, have demonstrated vision, prioritizing social impact, transparency in behavior, and ethics. The award ceremony, conducted by a Jury composed of qualified representatives from the thematic fields of the various competition categories, as well as from the world of culture and communication, will take place on May 25, 2026 at the Spazio Polene of the National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan.

Now in its 20th edition, the Tecnovisionarie® Award celebrates female talent as a force capable of interpreting and transforming the present. After highlighting over the years the contribution of women in scientific and technological fields, the 2026 edition focuses on an element as intangible as it is decisive: language.

The theme chosen for 2026, “Working with words,” spans different worlds – from artificial intelligence to communication, from education to culture, from business to public life – to highlight how language, in its many forms, is a tool for thinking, relating, and building the future. Words do not just describe reality: they shape it, guide it, and determine its possibilities.

In 2026, Le Tecnovisionarie® celebrate women who make language the heart of their work. Professionals, authors, researchers, educators, managers, communicators, and artists who use words – written, spoken, digital, algorithmic, or theatrical – as a lever for knowledge, inclusion, innovation, and change. Their words inform, educate, inspire, translate complexity, and build bridges between people, knowledge, and institutions.

In this edition, the word emerges as an act of responsibility and vision: a tool capable of generating trust, promoting participation, making knowledge accessible, and guiding technological and social innovation. Whether it is storytelling, public communication, education, research on the languages of artificial intelligence, or the construction of a conscious business culture, working with words becomes a creative and political act in the highest sense of the term.

The Jury selected the Tecnovisionarie® 2026 based on their ability to interpret their role with vision, rigor, and ethics, evaluating the cultural and social impact of their work, the quality of the proposed innovation, and the transformative power of the words used. The award thus aims to recognize female figures who, through language, contribute to a more equitable, inclusive, and conscious future.

The Tecnovisionarie® Award is not just a recognition, but a space for storytelling and collective inspiration. In a time when words can divide or unite, simplify or clarify, exclude or include, this 20th edition chooses to value those who work every day to give them meaning, depth, and responsibility.

Because the future is built this way too: word by word.

The award ceremony saw the participation of decision-makers from business, academia, public administration, and personalities from the scientific, cultural, and media worlds.

The awarded technovisionaries

Communication and Innovation: Eleonora Chioda, Journalist specializing in innovation, Corriere della Sera (#WonderfullyMind)

Work culture and meritocracy: Maria Cristina Origlia, Socioeconomic journalist, science communicator on the topics of work sustainability, and essayist, President of the Scientific Committee of the Meritocracy Forum

Culture and creativity: Piera Detassis, Critic and journalist

Culture and sustainability: Elisabetta Soglio, Journalist. Head of Good News at Corriere della Sera

Languages of care: Emanuela Orsi, Director of the Complex Structure of Diabetology and Nutrition, at ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo

Languages of scientific innovation: Matilde Antonj, Postdoctoral researcher in the COgNiTive Architecture for Collaborative Technologies unit at the Italian Institute of Technology and Francesca Panessa, Research Scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Planetology – IAPS; National Institute for Astrophysics - INAF

Digital languages and technologies: Ivana Faccioli, News Director of RTL 102.5

Language, institutions, and society: Cecilia Robustelli, Full Professor of Italian Linguistics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Language, science, and music: Alice Mado Proverbio, Associate Professor of “Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience” at the University of Milano-Bicocca

Special Gender Equality Award: Monica D’Ascenzo, Diversity & inclusion editor of Il Sole 24 Ore and head of Alley Oop