BancaStato to award SME sustainability prize

SMEs based in the canton of Ticino have until July 15 to apply for the Premio BancaStato per la Sostenibilità Aziendale, which is being awarded for the first time this year. This newly created award presented by BancaStato, the cantonal bank of the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, is designed to recognize corporate sustainability. It comes with prize money of 80,000 Swiss francs and is to be awarded every two years.

The bank came up with the concept of the prize as part of its sustainability strategy that was enhanced and refined in 2023. To this end, BancaStato is working with the economic office of the Department of Finance and Economy (DFE), the Chamber of Commerce of the Canton of Ticino (Cc-Ti) and the Ticino Industrial Association (AITI), according to a press release. Scientific support for the competition is to be provided by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) and the Swiss Association for Quality and Management Systems (SQS Switzerland).

All SMEs domiciled in the canton of Ticino are eligible to enter the competition by submitting a project that is already in the process of being implemented. The jury will judge the submissions on the basis of six criteria: scope, significance and durability of impact, innovative strength, coherence between the project and the company’s sustainability agenda and scalability. The winners are set to be announced on November 11, 2024 at a ceremony held at the Lugano Arte e Cultura event center.

“The Premio BancaStato per la Sostenibilità Aziendale is important for us”, comments Fabrizio Cieslakiewicz, CEO of BancaStato. “One the one hand, it is a form of encouragement and an additional tool for local SMEs that pursue a sustainability approach. And on the other, it is another means for us at BancaStato to fulfil our public mandate”. ce/mm