The ADI Compasso d’Oro in search of international excellence

“Designing Future Society for our Lives” is the theme of the 2025 International Exhibition which will be held in Osaka from 13th April to 13th October 2025 and which aims to focus the participation of the international community on the design of a sustainable society that is responsive to the needs and desires of individuals and their lives. “What is a happy lifestyle?” is the question that Expo tries to answer: in this case not just the life of individual human beings but also in a broader sense, in terms of the relationships with the urban and natural contexts that surround us.

As part of this significant opportunity for international promotion, ADI is presenting the Compasso d’Oro International Award, a global version of the recognition par excellence of Made in Italy design which, through its carefully considered selection method involving a multidisciplinary jury of five highly qualified members, will reward the most innovative and significant projects within the general themes of the Expo.

The exhibition of the winners will be inaugurated on 5th September 2025 at the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka. This has been designed by the architect Mario Cucinella, who has reinterpreted the Ideal Renaissance City with the theatre and the square as symbolic places of Italian creativity and encounter. The Italian Pavilion hosts an Italian garden on the roof, like a terrace overlooking the open sea, and will be visible from the Ring, the circular walkway suspended 12 metres above the ground. The theme of the Italian Pavilion is Art regenerates life, an interpretation of the more general theme of Expo 2025 Osaka: Designing future society for our lives.

The general theme of the International Compasso d’Oro, inspired by that of Expo 2025

Osaka, is thus divided into three sub-themes which the design proposals have to answer: Saving Lives, protecting and saving the lives of individuals; Empowering Lives, enriching people’s lives and expanding their potential and Connecting Lives, connecting the lives of individuals in order to build communities and enrich society.

ADI Association for Industrial Design, founded in 1956, represents the ideas and interests of the design system both in Italy and the rest of the world. It brings together designers, businesses, distributors, researchers, historians, critics, journalists, schools and publishing houses and its objective is to encourage the development of industrial design as a cultural and economic phenomenon and to improve the responsible and sustainable development of living conditions. It organizes the Compasso d’Oro award, the best known form of Italian design recognition, which was created in 1954, and in 2014 ADI established the Compasso d’Oro International Award.

The award is being held in collaboration with the General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka. Nominations for the Compasso d’Oro International Award can be submitted on the website dedicated to the competition www.compassodorointernational.com starting from next September.