AIDIA – Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects promotes the second edition of the award dedicated to women graduates in engineering and architecture. Applications are open until September 21, 2026. The award ceremony will take place on November 27 at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome. AIDIA – Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects …
AIDIA – Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects promotes the second edition of the award dedicated to women graduates in engineering and architecture. Applications are open until September 21, 2026. The award ceremony will take place on November 27 at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome.
AIDIA – Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects has launched the second edition of the AIDIA Award 2026 “Ideas for a Changing World”, an initiative created to promote the work of women in the fields of architecture, engineering, and technical professions.
The award is open to women graduates in engineering and architecture who have carried out actions, interventions, works, processes, or projects already completed and able to generate a positive impact on the quality of life, work, places, organizations, or communities.
After its first edition, the AIDIA Award returns with a structure divided into four main categories and a Special Award promoted in collaboration with Fondazione Inarcassa, dedicated to freelance women professionals.
Applications may be submitted until 11:59 p.m. on September 21, 2026. The award ceremony is scheduled for November 27, 2026, at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome, inside the Acquario Romano, in Piazza Manfredo Fanti.
The AIDIA Award 2026 and the goals of the initiative
The AIDIA Award 2026 was created to recognize women’s professional experiences that have generated concrete change through technical expertise, innovation, design quality, and social, environmental, and cultural responsibility.
The call is addressed to projects that have already been completed and implemented. Simple ideas, projects in the prototyping phase, or unrealized theses are therefore not eligible. This element defines the profile of the award very clearly: AIDIA aims to promote interventions that have already produced verifiable results, even when developed on a local, experimental, pilot, small, or medium scale.
The initiative is also part of the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, with particular reference to Goal 5 – Gender Equality, which promotes women’s empowerment as a factor of sustainable, fair, and inclusive development.
Who can participate in the AIDIA Award 2026
The competition is reserved for women graduates in Engineering or Architecture.
Participation is allowed either individually or as a group. In the case of working groups, the group leader must be a woman; the group may also include men.
Each candidate, whether individual or part of a group, may submit only one application, referring to one of the categories included in the call.
Applications must concern interventions, works, processes, or actions that have already been carried out, published, or otherwise known by the date of publication of the call. AIDIA members, members of the Judging Committee, and other subjects listed among the incompatibilities set out in the regulations may not participate.
The categories of the AIDIA Award 2026
The second edition of the AIDIA Award is divided into four categories.
Regeneration and redevelopment
This category concerns redevelopment interventions on degraded public or private areas or properties, with particular attention to the reuse of abandoned spaces or disused buildings.
Projects able to generate new social, cultural, and economic relationships within the community will be evaluated, especially if they contribute to the reactivation of places and urban or territorial contexts.
Environmental improvement
This section is dedicated to eco-sustainable interventions, devices, or solutions able to reduce the impact on natural resources, improve energy performance, increase the use of renewable sources, and contribute to decarbonization and the reduction of environmental pollution.
The category addresses the theme of sustainability applied to design, technology, and transformation processes affecting places.
Digital systems
The Digital systems category concerns services, applications, platforms, digital products, IT networks, or innovative processes that have improved people’s lives or the functioning of public or private organizations.
The call also considers solutions capable of introducing new work models, new user experiences, or new forms of collaboration, including those developed in emerging or experimental contexts.
Female managerial leadership
The fourth category is dedicated to professional experiences, in the public or private sector, that have generated effective, inclusive, accessible, or participatory leadership models.
Professional paths capable of creating positive, collaborative work environments oriented toward the enhancement of skills will be valued.
The Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award
Alongside the four main categories, the AIDIA Award 2026 includes a Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award reserved for candidates who are regularly registered with the National Pension and Assistance Fund for Freelance Engineers and Architects on the date of publication of the call.
The special award is designed to promote the experiences of freelance women professionals who, as holders or managers of assignments, have taken full technical, economic, and organizational responsibility in professional processes or commissions.
Aspects such as professional experience, organizational and management skills, entrepreneurial ability, and innovation will be considered.
The Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award can be combined with the category awards. A freelance candidate may therefore receive both the award for the relevant category and the special award, if she ranks first in both rankings.
Awards and evaluation criteria
For each of the four categories, a prize of 1,500 euros is provided, gross of tax charges and legal withholdings.
The Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award also includes a financial recognition of 1,500 euros.
All winners will also be offered one year of free membership in the AIDIA Territorial Section closest to their place of residence.
Applications will be evaluated on the basis of four main criteria:
impact and effects on the quality of life, work, or community;
innovation;
strategic vision;
replicability and reproducibility.
For the Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award, professional experience, organizational and management skills, entrepreneurial ability, and innovation will be evaluated instead.
The maximum score is 100 points, with a minimum threshold of 60 points.
The Judging Committee
The Judging Committee is composed of eight members appointed by AIDIA.
According to the call, the members include:
Arch. Anna Vella, National President of AIDIA;
Eng. Annachiara Castagna, National Vice President of AIDIA;
Arch. Carmen Andriani, professor of Architectural and Urban Design and practicing architect;
Dr. Francesca Mariotti, President of ENEA;
Prof. Gaetano Scamarcio, Director of the CNR Institute of Nanosciences;
Eng. Ippolita Chiarolini, National Council of Engineers;
Arch. Michela Alessandra Locati, National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators;
a representative of Fondazione Inarcassa, member pending appointment.
The Committee will evaluate the applications received by verifying compliance with the formal requirements and assigning scores according to the criteria established by the call.
How to submit an application
The application must be submitted using the Annex A form, available on the official AIDIA website.
The required materials listed in the call must be attached to the application, including biography, photo of the candidate or working group, identity document, descriptive report of the submitted intervention or process, and graphic or presentation materials.
For candidates applying for the Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award, documentation proving regular registration with Inarcassa and a dedicated descriptive report on professional activity are also required.
The complete application must be sent by 11:59 p.m. on September 21, 2026, to the following address:
The material must be sent in a single compressed folder, named after the candidate or group leader, and must not exceed 20 MB.
Key dates of the AIDIA Award 2026
The call for the AIDIA Award 2026 was published on May 12, 2026.
The presentation press conference was held on May 13, 2026, at the headquarters of the National Council of Engineers in Rome.
Clarification questions may be sent to AIDIApremio@gmail.com until June 30, 2026. Answers will be published on the AIDIA website by July 15, 2026.
The deadline for submitting applications is September 21, 2026.
The award ceremony will take place on November 27, 2026, at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome, inside the Acquario Romano.
AIDIA and the role of women in technical professions
AIDIA is an Italian non-profit organization founded in 1957. It brings together women graduates in architecture and engineering and promotes women’s presence in the technical field through cultural, professional, and associative activities.
With the second edition of the “Ideas for a Changing World” Award, the association confirms its goal of giving visibility to women professionals working in architecture, engineering, the environment, digital systems, professional management, and innovation.
The award represents an opportunity to bring forward projects and professional paths that have already produced concrete effects, contributing to the transformation of territories, organizations, and communities.
For complete information, the call, and application forms, it is possible to consult the official page of the AIDIA Award 2026 on the AIDIA website.
