Antonio Genovesi Prize
Antonio Genovesi Prize
The initiative aims at activating relationships and implementing cooperation between the actors of the local socio-economic system, trying – at the provincial area level – to promote interactions between politics, society, business and university, for a real chance to relaunch the production system. The involved parties responded with interest and participation, from the Mayors to the technicians of the Local Authorities, to the entrepreneurs represented by the National Construction Builders Association (ANCE – AIES) of Salerno, to the working group of the Project Evaluation Laboratory (PEL) of the University of Salerno.
The reference to Antonio Genovesi, a distinguished economist of the eighteenth century born in Castiglione (SA), referred in the following to as Genovesi, the forerunner of the political economy (he is the first chair in Italy at the University of Naples), is representative of the strong bond established between the initiative and the territory. The goal is to concretize the didactic and training efforts in a product that can be immediately used on the market. So the award was born and modelled on the didactic option aimed at “bringing the students to the field”, engaging them with the evaluation problems that emerged from the direct interaction with public bodies. In a phase such as the present one, in which it is the financing and management problems of the project and not its drafting material that takes on a decisive role, this recognition represents a small step for future engineers to be able to face the professional and cultural challenges that await them.


The Antonio Genovesi Prize, in the various editions, featured students from the Faculties of Engineering and Economics, each involved in a project drawn from the three-year Municipal Administration Plans of the Campania Region, as well as partnerships with national bodies such as ENEA, Gloriosi Astronomical Observatory, Giffoni Film Festival.
The prize consists of a voucher of 1,500 euros, sponsored today by Ance Aies Salerno, for each of the sections in which the competition is organized.
The Technical Scientific Committee designates the winners for each section and the participants to be awarded with the Mention of Merit. It is made up of the highest representatives of the promoter institutions, that is, the Director of the DICIV, the President of the AIES AIES Salerno, Prof. Gianluigi De Mare, Director of the Project Evaluation Laboratory (PEL), Prof. Antonio Nesticò, responsible for the teaching of Economic Evaluation of Projects in the DICIV, Prof. Nicola Morano Emeritus of Appraisal, by Dr. Rosa Maria Caprino, Socomer Grandi Lavori administrator (or their delegates).
The Technical Scientific Committee chooses the winners as part of the shortlist of finalist projects indicated in the List of Finalists-Proposed Ranking List, at the end of the pre-evaluation phase.
Prize sections
The open sections for the competition are:
- Feasibility Section – for the project that presents the characteristics of greater depth in view of the immediate feasibility of the investment;
- Research Section – for the study that identifies the most advanced analysis solutions in the field of scientific methodologies and tools;
- Creativity Section – for the originality of the project idea in compliance with the feasibility criteria.
Starting from 2013, at the request of Socomer Grandi Lavori srl of Battipaglia (SA), the Prize in memory of Ersilio Caprino was activated, with aim of involving young engineers in the construction site management with two scholarships (€ 3,600).

The projects realized and presented during the first three editions of the Prize were collected in three volumes entitled “La valutazione finanziaria dei progetti per il rilancio del territorio” by Gianluigi De Mare, Antonio Nesticò and Rosa Maria Caprino, Franco Angeli Editore Publisher.
All editions
Below are all the editions of the Antonio Genovesi Prize (2011-2019). Click on the following images to go to the pages dedicated to each of the editions.