The protection of the environment and biodiversity, respect for human, cultural and social rights, enlightened land management, innovation and excellence. These are just some of the themes that are developed and explained through photographs in a large exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace) in Genoa.

It is here that the new ISPA (Italian Sustainability Photo Award) exhibition was inaugurated on July 10, and it will run until July 30. It has been organized in collaboration with the Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura (the Palazzo Ducale Cultural Foundation), and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT, the Italian Institute of Technology).

The exhibition also marks the start of ISPA’s collaboration with FUJIFILM, the Award’s new technical partner. The famous company printed the exhibition photos on its Original Photographic Paper. Specifically, it used Fujicolor Type DPII Crystal Archive Digital Paper with a matte finish. This is a silver halide colour photographic paper that’s designed to achieve a wide colour range, high colour saturation, deep blacks and richly detailed whites.

The opening night of the exhibition coincided with a new edition of ISPA Talks, the Award's traveling event format. The talk was on the subject of "Sustainability & Innovation: the Food of the Future." Speakers included:

• Claudio Semini, head of the Dynamic Legged Systems (DLS) laboratory at IIT. As part of the Vinum project, he is developing the prototype of a four-legged robot equipped with an arm that can move autonomously in vineyards and prune vines. It has been trained in the spurred cordon system. This project is chronicled by Nicolò Panzeri in the “Feed Us” ISPA Grant project.
• Luca Gamberini, the co-creator of Nemo's Garden, an all-Italian project that developed the world's first underwater greenhouses for land plants, in Liguria. It is featured in an image by Giacomo d'Orlando, who was an ISPA finalist in the Single Photo category in 2021.
• Stefano Mariani, a researcher at IIT's Bioinspired Soft Robotics Lab. He is studying the development of materials for bioinspired robots, such as the first artificial seed-robot, I-Seed, which is made of biodegradable material. It’s capable of moving about without batteries or other external energy sources.

Images by Matteo Bastianelli, Jean-Marc Caimi and Valentina Piccinni, Matteo Capone, Tomaso Clavarino, Enrico Genovesi, Schirra Giraldi, Giacomo d'Orlando, Paola Lai, Vittoria Lorenzetti, Matteo de Mayda, Pietro Romeo, Nicolò Panzeri, Valeria Scrilatti, Christian Velcich, and Elisabetta Zavoli will also be on display until July 30.