Italian engineer Corradino D' Ascanio is not only an aeronautical designer and an inventor, but also a pioneer with brilliant ideas of great benefits to the society.

His name is now an inspiration for both Italian and Chinese enterprises to create innovative products.

D' Ascanio has been given an award by an Italian association, Abruzzesi in China, to honor enterprises from Italy and China that have made exceptional contributions in the field of design innovation.

Abruzzo is a region of southern Italy, which is to the east of capital Rome, with an area of over 10,000 square kilometers and a population of 1.3 million.

An award ceremony of the "Corradino D'Ascanio for Innovation" is held at the House of Roosevelt on Wednesday in Shanghai.

Founded in 1980, Italian company Valagro, one of the winners, is a leading producer and marketer of bio-stimulants and fertilizers with 13 subsidiaries located throughout the world.

Valagro brought its technology to the Chinese market and settled down in Shanghai in 2016.

"The reason we chose Shanghai is that the city has a lot of good policies for foreign companies," said Zhang Shufei, administration manager of Valagro Shanghai. "Shanghai is a city full of energy."

The company also cherishes Shanghai's talent sources and policies which are helpful for luring high-quality personnel.

"As Valagro Shanghai is still a very young company here, Shanghai can provide us with a lot of sources of talent, which is not only local but from all over the world," Zhang told Shanghai Daily.

After settling down in China, the company has tried to provide better technological innovation and more optimized crop solutions to Chinese farmers.

"Our mission is to improve the productivity and quality of plants and harvested crops while reducing the environmental impact of cultivation," Zhang said in her speech during the ceremony.

Photo of the registration ceremony of the Abruzzesi Association in China, in Shanghai, on August 26, 2020.

The other winner, Dongpeng Ceramics, a well-known ceramics brand in China, also sees the award as a good chance to communicate with the world by offering their innovative products.

Dongpeng, founded in 1970, was newly listed in two stock exchanges in China in the last decade.

The company established its first overseas branch, Dongpeng Europe, in Italy in 2006. The brand is also known as the Chinese Ceramics Embassy in Italy.

On Wednesday night, the first award ceremony was held at the House of Roosevelt along the Huangpu River at Shanghai's downtown landmark, the Bund.

Chinese company Dongpeng Ceramics receives an award.