Photosynthesis by Akihisa Hirata for Panasonic has won the second edition of the ElitaDesign Awardsfor the best installation of the FuoriSalone. The prize is the result of a partnership between Elita Festival and the European Design Institute in Milan, in collaboration with Fuorisalone.it and Future Concept lab. The project – presented as part of the exhibition Interni Legacy in the Cortile della Farmacia of the State University – is a synthesis of innovation and research conducted by Panasonic in the field of energy optimization, to study a system of production, storage and efficient use of renewable energy. The jury composed of Rossella Bertolazzi (IED Visual Communication), Dino Lupelli (Elita Festival), Cristian Confalonieri (Fuorisalone.it), Valentina Ventrelli (Future Concept lab), chaired by Lorenzo Palmeri, assigned the prize (a sculpture by the designer Duilio Forte of Atelier Forte) “for the capacity to engage and surprise the public through a highly technological installation with an analog heart, capable of conveying pure emotion that reminds us of the rhythm of plants”. The impressive, poetic installation created by Akihisa Hirata, in fact, was based on the idea of photosynthesis, to illustrate the new electrical and electronic components produced by the Japanese firm, through a symbolic reinterpretation of this fundamental natural process of accumulation of solar energy. The installation by Hirata made use of some of the most innovativ lighting products of the company, transformed into the parts of an artificially constructed ecosystem based on a tree, where the photovoltaic panels become leaves, the storage batteries fruit, and the energy saving LEDs and OLED panels become flowers.