Samoter, an exhibition dedicated to construction machinery to be held in Italy, has set October 28 as the closing date for entries in the 23rd Innovation Award.

The contest is open to construction companies, official representatives or importers, research institutions and bodies, universities and professionals active in the field of construction and building site machinery. It stipulates that machines, equipment or prototypes should be genuine innovations or improvements in the company production ranges and will make their debut on the Italian market in 2020.

The Innovation Award is meant to promote technological evolution and research during the run-up to the next edition scheduled at the Verona Exhibition Centre from March 21 to 25, 2020. The event now boasts more categories to ensure even better representation of the sector, and a focus on design.

There are 10 competition sections: hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, track-laying bulldozers, skid-loaders, backhoe loaders, graders, telehandlers, attachments, software applications and installations.

The jury, chaired for the first time by technical journalist Costantino Radis, will assess innovative investments such as solutions for energy efficiency, production optimisation, elimination of ergonomic or operator safety problems and sustainability in the construction and use of machines. Applied design, as of this edition of the SaMoTer Award, has now been assigned a special prize.

“The earthmoving machinery sector,” said Radis, “is evolving towards greater digitalisation and we therefore envisage that this aspect will also play a central role in the proposals entered for the competition. The very near future of this market will be focus on process control and vehicle efficiency, including remote control, thanks to 5G networks or, in particular situations, work in full autonomy exploiting artificial intelligence.”

The winners of the competition will later join the “B2Press” initiative, which includes a prize-giving ceremony in Verona on January 23, 2020.