Swiss Genius – Prix De L’innovation Bulgari

After its launch last February, Bulgari has unveiled the winning group of the Swiss Genius. The first award focused on innovation in corporate social responsibility ever created by the Maison, in partnership with Luxury Tribune and the Swiss Center for Luxury Research.

The Italian jeweler rewarded today the "TRILOGY" team of the Università della Svizzera Italiana for their project Corporate Social Revolution: Communication practices to innovate CSR in the Luxury Market, articulated around a main theme: innovation in matters of corporate social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility, at the heart of Bulgari's development strategy, plays a key role in its daily activities. Their project, based on communication practices and customer engagement to innovate in terms of CSR, was praised by the members of the jury who came from all over Switzerland to award this prize. This 360-degree project affects the digital world thanks to an app dedicated to CSR, but also in stores, through unique experiences and specific events, always linked to CSR.

With the launch of the Swiss Genius Innovation Award, Bulgari has challenged future generations, leaders of tomorrow, to accomplish this mission through an innovative and entrepreneurial approach. How ? By developing the project of their choice, around a main theme: how can the luxury sector still innovate in terms of CSR?

This national competition was open to students from 5 Swiss universities: the École Hôtelière de Lausanne, HEC Lausanne, the University of Saint-Gall, the University of Applied Sciences in Zurich and the Università della Svizzera Italiana, who are following their studies masters in 2022.

The project had to be structured around six managerial themes suggested at the start of the program: supply chain/supply, sustainable development, product (or related), brand image and communication, human resources, philanthropy, and present an innovative solution to the brand, through innovative development and design, with a focus on CSR.

The jury, made up of renowned players in sustainable development and the luxury sector such as Frank BODIN, founder of bodin.consulting and president of the ADC, Cristina D'AGOSTINO, editor-in-chief of Luxury Tribune, Felicitas MORHART, founder of Swiss Center for Luxury Research, Eleonora RIZZUTO, CSR Director at Bulgari and LVMH Italia and Jelena TASIC, Managing Director of the Lifestyle-Tech Competence Center, announced the winning group during the awards ceremony at the Royal Savoy Hotel in Lausanne.

Christa Rigozzi, Cristina d’Agostino, Felicitas Morhart, Frank Bodin, Vincenzo Santagada

"It is with great enthusiasm that I look at this project which reflects perfectly the strategic vision of the brand. Since the pandemic, new requirements have emerged. They mainly consist on preparing future generations to gain experience technically and qualitatively for these challenges, while encompassing what we call behavioral knowledge, or soft skills. Bulgari Swiss Genius, in collaboration with the Swiss Center for Luxury Research, is an interesting example of a joint thought process. This is an opportunity for Bulgari to show students the extent of our sustainable approach as it is now one of the main criterias for young talents wishing to start their careers with us,"Eleonora Rizzuto, CSR Director at Bulgari.

In addition to the complete tour of Bulgari's workshops and offices, the winners were invited to Bulgari's headquarters in Rome to present their project to the international CSR team.

All shortlisted students have the opportunity to submit their application for a three-month paid internship with the CSR team in Rome and will have their CV thoroughly reviewed by Bulgari HR to facilitate their eventual recruitment.

The first edition of this award is launched in Switzerland, which ranks first in the ranking of the most innovative countries in 2021. Switzerland got the best score in the seven indicators used to establish the ranking published by the European Commission. The strengths of the country lies in its attractive research systems, human resources and intellectual assets.