VDA Telkonet at the XXIX ADI Compasso d’Oro Exhibition 2026 with Nova Smart Switch
VDA Telkonet will take part in the XXIX ADI Compasso d’Oro Exhibition, opening at the ADI Design Museum in Milan on April 16, 2026, with Nova Smart Switch, the product designed by Gensler and selected for the ADI Design Index 2025. The exhibition is one of the most important events in contemporary Italian design and represents a key international showcase.
Recognition reflected by vision
Being selected for this exhibition is a source of great pride for us. The recognition confirms the direction we have taken, and is an incentive as we continue investing in a vision that brings together design, technology, and people’s well-being, shaping a new idea of hospitality. We will bring the same vision to Fuorisalone 2026, in line with our people-centric approach, where design is never an end in itself, but a way to improve experience, spatial quality, and the comfort of those who live in and interact with a space.
Nova Smart Switch as an architectural element
For VDA Telkonet, the presence of Nova Smart Switch in the Compasso d’Oro exhibition has a particularly important meaning. Nova is a collaboration between industrial design, architectural sensitivity, and technological integration. Designed by Gensler, Nova interprets the switch not only as a functional device, but also as an architectural element: an object capable of fitting coherently into different contexts and engaging with the identity of interior spaces. Its strength lies in its versatility: materials, finishes, and configurations make it a highly customizable product, designed to adapt to the languages of contemporary design and to the needs of a hospitality industry increasingly focused on experience and detail.
Why the Compasso d’Oro matters
For those working in design, the ADI Compasso d’Oro needs no introduction. But to our broader audience, it is the most authoritative award in Italian design, active for more than seventy years and recognizes projects that best express innovation, quality, and cultural impact. The XXIX Compasso d’Oro Exhibition brings together the projects featured in this edition within the prestigious setting of the ADI Design Museum, helping to promote the very best of contemporary Italian design to a gloabl audience.
Design as a strategic direction
Taking part in the XXIX Compasso d’Oro Exhibition means more than celebrating an achievement. It is a way to reaffirm a belief: design can be a strategic tool for creating spaces that are more intelligent, more coherent, and more human.
For VDA Telkonet, this participation is part of a broader journey of recognition at both national and international level. Over time, the Group has received important design awards, including the iF Design Award, Compasso d’Oro, ADI Design Index, and Red Dot, strengthening a design culture in which innovation, aesthetics, and functionality coexist.
This is further reinforced by the recent recognition from Confindustria, which included VDA Telkonet among the companies awarded for their capacity to innovate, confirming the strength of an approach that combines industrial vision, research, and a concrete focus on the evolution of the hospitality sector.
This is the direction we want to keep moving in, engaging with architects, designers, hospitality professionals, and partners who share the same view of design as a driver of value, wellbeing, and innovation.
