Promotion: entries are now open for the Compasso d'Oro International Award, a global version of Italy's highest design prize, tied to Expo 2025 Osaka.

Presented by Italy's Association for Industrial Design (ADI) in collaboration with the the General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, the Compasso d'Oro International Award will recognise the most innovative and impactful projects that align with the themes of Expo 2025.

The awards are open to products, product systems, services and events from the 161 countries participating in the expo, which is united by the sustainability-focused theme of "Designing Future Society for Our Lives".

Categories for submissions are design for living, design for lighting, design for mobility, design for work, design for the individual, food design, service and social design and design for communication.

Entries also need to fall into one of the three sub-themes – "Saving Lives", "Empowering Lives" or "Connecting Lives" – and have to refer to products or services that were put on the market between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2024.

The Saving Lives category includes areas such as public health improvements and disaster risk reduction, Empowering Lives might take in tech-enhanced education or the maximising of human potential via artificial intelligence or robotics, while Connecting Lives could cover projects in the areas of communication or co-creation.

"'What is a happy lifestyle?' is the question the Expo seeks to answer – not only in the context of human life, but also in relation to the urban and natural environments around us," said the ADI.

The winning projects will be selected by an expert jury and exhibited in the Mario Cucinella-designed Italian pavilion of the expo from 5 September 2025.

Afterwards, they will go on permanent display at the ADI Design Museum in Milan as part of the Compasso d'Oro Design Collection – an historic collection of all of the award's past winners, including icons such as the Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, Fiat 500 car and Sacco beanbag chair.

Applications to the award can be made by filling out the application form on the Compasso d'Oro website, with a €1,000 fee required for each nominated product. The application deadline is 10 March 2025.

Expo 2025 Osaka is the 36th official edition of the World Expo and will be held from 13 April to 13 October 2025. There are usually five years between expos, although the 2020 Expo in Dubai only concluded in 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

For more information and to enter, visit the Compasso d'Oro website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for the Compasso d'Oro as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.