Award "The Technovisionaries®" 2011

The International Award "Le Tecnovisionarie®", an integral part of the international conference "Women&Technologies® 2008-2015", is awarded every year to "visionary women" who, through their work in Research, Public Administration, or Business, have been able to "invent the future", combining innovation and technologies while maintaining an overall vision and necessary focus on the individual. Nominations for the IV edition 2011 of the Award were made online on the website www.womentech.info until October 17, 2011. Among the over 30 candidates, a selection of finalists, including the 5 winners, one for each competition category, has been made; furthermore, a special mention has been awarded to two young researchers. The Jury consists of 8 members, chosen among qualified representatives of the thematic areas of the different competition categories, the world of culture, and communication.

Composition of the Jury
Diana Bracco President and CEO of the Bracco Group, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan and President of the Milano Foundation for Expo 2015.
Giovanni Caprara Journalist, writer, popularizer, head of the scientific editorial staff of Corriere della Sera.
Deborah Chiodoni Director of External Relations and Press, Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, Milan.
Giovanna Luini Gatti Writer, breast cancer specialist and scientific communicator at IEO.
Gianna Martinengo Creator and Chairperson of Women&Technologies®.
Silvia Rosa Brusin Journalist, presenter and deputy editor of Leonardo, RAI3.
Massimo Scaccabarozzi CEO of Janssen-Cilag S.p.A. and President of Farmindustria.
Federica Villa Head of the Presidency and Institutional Relations of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan.

The award ceremony took place during the gala evening held in the charming setting of Palazzo Cusani, at the conclusion of the Conference. The award ceremony was hosted by Cinzia Sasso, a journalist from Repubblica, in the presence of 160 guests.

1st Prize "Bio WomenTech"
The First Prize is dedicated to women who have dedicated their passion and professionalism in "technovisionary" to one of the two fundamental areas of the relationship between science, health, and technology: Biotechnologies.

Franca Melfi, Director of the Multidisciplinary Robotic Surgery Center, University Hospital of Pisa.
Reason: Franca Melfi developed an innovative surgical technique in 2002 that used the Da Vinci robot to perform minimally invasive removal of lung tumors and mediastinal masses.
She is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in thoracic robotic surgery, which started before this method became popular not only in thoracic surgery but also in other disciplines.
In the last 4-5 years, robotic techniques have seen a huge expansion in the treatment of many urological and gynecological pathologies, and the emerging disciplines where this procedure is applied are thoracic and abdominal surgery. Among her publications is the first scientific work on robotic lung lobectomy in 2002, followed by other scientific publications in this field in 2006. In 2009, she founded the robotic group of the European Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery and currently serves as the director of the multidisciplinary robotic surgery center in the cardiothoracic department of the University Hospital of Pisa. She organizes periodic robotic surgery courses at a European and international level and is a member of the scientific committee of the International Society of Minimally Invasive Surgery "ISMICS."
Award Presented by: Massimo Scaccabarozzi, CEO of Janssen-Cilag S.p.A. and President of Farmindustria.

1st Prize "Nano WomenTech"
The First Prize is dedicated to women who have devoted their passion and professionalism as "techno-visionaries" to one of the two fundamental areas of the relationship between science, health, and technology: Nanotechnologies.

Michela Matteoli, Director of the "Cellular Biology of the Synapse" laboratory, Department of Pharmacology at the University of Milan and President of Neuro-Zone Srl.
Motivation: Michela Matteoli's scientific career is characterized by a continuous combination of successful innovative methodologies with cutting-edge technologies, for increasingly frontier research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. In the early 1990s, she developed a assay to deepen the study of communication between neurons in culture, which still represents one of the most widely used methods in research laboratories worldwide to analyze the dynamics of synaptic vesicles in cultured neurons. Starting in the early 2000s, with her discoveries published in important international journals, she contributes to clarifying the mechanisms of communication between different cells of the nervous system in physiological and pathological conditions, actively participating in the main European networks for the study of what will later be called "synaptopathies". After understanding early the importance of combining physiologically relevant cellular systems with new technological approaches, in 2008 she established a fruitful collaboration with IBM for the development of a new microfluidic platform for understanding the cellular mechanisms involved in neuroinflammation processes, the first step in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.
Award presented by: Alessandro Spada, Member of the Milan Chamber of Commerce Council and President of Innovhub.

Special Prize: "Space" for health
Intended for women involved in aerospace innovation in the health sector, or in the transfer of technology from aerospace research to the health sector. "Technovisionaries" from the extraordinary to the ordinary.

Samantha Cristoforetti, Astronaut, ESA.
Motivation: She is the first Italian astronaut and the third for Europe, after the English Helen Sharman and the French Claudie Andre-Deshays. Samantha Cristoforetti's passion is flying: she graduated from the Technical University of Munich in Germany and in aeronautical sciences at the Academy of Pozzuoli. She is an Officer Pilot of the Italian Air Force and among the first women to become a military pilot, just ten years after women entered the Armed Forces. She has been nominated for her constant interest in studies related to flight physiology and the adaptation of the body, especially the female body, to the aeronautical and space environment. The hope is that in her role as an astronaut, she can serve as a reference point for those interested in human adaptation to space, seeking answers to the possibility of humans surviving outside of Earth, with a focus on the common citizen benefiting from such research for their health.
Award presented by: Giovanni Caprara, Journalist, writer, popularizer, head of the scientific editorial team of Corriere della Sera.

Special Award: Emergency Women, Women in Emergency
Intended for women who have allowed, thanks to their "technovisionary being", significant innovations in the fields of Emergency Medicine and Disasters, with particular attention to developing countries or those affected by calamities.

Cecilia Strada, President of Emergency.
Reason: For the passion and professionalism with which she carries out the functions of President of Emergency, for the attention she dedicates to the development of projects both abroad (Sudan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cambodia, Iraq) and in Italy, in favor of quality and free medical assistance for all.
Award presented by: Monica Guarischi , Delegate Councilor for the promotion of Equal Opportunities, Lombardy Region

Special Prize Scientific Outreach: If I say Health...
Aimed at women, journalists or communicators, engaged in the complex task of making complex health-related issues accessible and "within reach of everyone" through various media and formats.

Nicoletta Carbone, Journalist, host of "Essere e Benessere" on Radio24.
Motivation: For making medicine a science accessible to everyone, using radio and the web with skill and professionalism.
Award presented by: Adriana Albini, Head of Oncological Research, Scientific and Technological Pole - IRCCS MultiMedica

Special mentions by the Women and Technologies Association
Intended for young researchers in the field of bio and nanotechnologies

Carlotta Guiducci, Associate Professor, Federal Polytechnic of Lausanne.
Motivation: Carlotta Guiducci has developed technologies that can deeply change the future. Starting from integrated electronics, Guiducci has developed an interface with the living world. In particular, Guiducci and her collaborators have invented integrated sensors that detect the presence of biological material, such as DNA and/or proteins, and communicate this information electrically to an electronic and informational system.
Guiducci's work is visionary because it provides a bridge between the biological and computational worlds, with important consequences for health and environmental management, pollution control, and individual and community safety. This work also offers the possibility of developing new directions for integrated electronics and biomedical systems in Italy and Europe, creating high value-added devices. Consequently, these technologies have many potential applications in small, medium, and large industries. The industrial development of the technology proposed by Guiducci creates a new dimension, with positive consequences for employment, competitiveness, and potentially the quality of life of the communities that adopt its use.
Award presented by: Mariagiovanna Sami, Professor of Computer Architectures, Polytechnic University of Milan; Member of the National Academy of Sciences, known as the XL, Past President of the Women&Technologies® Strategic Committee

Stefania Rapino, Electrochemistry, University of Bologna.
Motivation: Stefania Rapino graduated in Chemistry with honors from the University of Bologna in 2002. She completed her PhD in Chemical Sciences at the computational chemistry group of the "G. Ciamician" chemistry department at the University of Bologna, obtaining her PhD in 2006. From the PhD to today, she has collaborated with the electrochemistry group (UNIBO) and the European Institute of Oncology (IEO, Milan) as a post-doc working on various projects.
Over the past four years, she has worked closely with the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan, developing new electrochemical tools (e.g. microprobes) for the investigation of oxygen and ROS (species closely related to those involved in the current project) in complex systems such as in vivo cells, and for technological development for early tumor diagnosis. Stefania Rapino is a co-author of 14 scientific articles in high-impact journals. Due to her profile characteristics, which encompass technological, theoretical, and experimental skills, Stefania Rapino is truly an excellent example of a researcher.
Award Presentation: Francesca Zajczyk, appointed by the Mayor of Milan for the development of initiatives for equal opportunities

Delivery of the President of the Republic Medal
Intended for the Women and Technologies Association