The UN international conference on Sustainable Development

Board chairs and tables, a solar panel wall, bamboo and natural material fittings, wooden pallets are just a few examples of the environmentally sustainable materials used to set up the Italian Hall, officially opened on June 13 in Rio de Janeiro by Corrado Clini, the Italian Minister of the Environment, on occasion of the start of the UN international conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20.

The architectural project for the building, implemented by studio Archea and defined by Minister Clini as “a crazy sustainable structure”, was set up in just 10 days on a former desert area, and became a tangible example of Italy’s “green strategy”.

Like the premises of the Italian embassy in Brasilia, the outside of the building is completely covered with photovoltaic panels supplied by Enel Green Power; its interiors host to a number of top-level made-in-Italy companies that invested and founded their existence on the so-called “green economy”.

“Italy should sell these skills, these competences on the global market. We have lots of companies that manufacture groundbreaking, original, and sustainable objects. These need strong support by the government in order to be competitive and useful for the growth of our country” said Minister Clini.

The Hall hosts to seminars, workshops, and other events focusing on the themes constituting the object of the conference, as well as exhibitions by a number of Italian companies operating in the field of sustainable technologies in Brazil. These include Enel Green Power, Tim Brazil, Pirelli, FIAT, Telespazio, SELEX (Finmeccanica), M&G, CONAI, Sea Marconi, Power one, Genera, Turbec.

MATRE stands out among made-in-Italy excellences. It is the first international materials library dedicated to environmentally sustainable materials, a service offered to companies to design new industrial, architectural, and design products.
During the seven days preceding the conference, MATREC had the opportunity to meet international companies to launch joint initiatives on the issues of environmentally sustainable materials and of eco-innovation.

A strong and positive feedback came from several south-American organizations (including first and foremost from Brazil) to share know how and develop new projects.