In the prestigious setting of the ADI Design Museum in Milan, the Car Design Award celebrated its 2026 edition, reaffirming its status as one of the most anticipated and significant events for the global creative community. On this occasion, Auto&Design organized a moment of collective reflection on the monumental challenges the sector is facing, caught between the advance of artificial intelligence and the urgency of sustainability that is authentic and not merely declared.<\/p>\n
The design talk, titled \u201cSustainable Intelligence: Design in the Age of AI\u201d featured: Chris Lefteri, Design Ambassador at Alcantara; Luca Borgogno, Strategic Director of Transportation Design at IAAD; Florian Seidel, Design Manager at Lavazza; and Alessandro Belosio, Assistant Chief Designer at Toyota ED\u00b2, moderated by Silvia Baruffaldi, Director of Auto&Design.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>The Three Intelligences of Contemporary Design Education According to IAAD.<\/strong><\/p>\n Luca Borgogno, Strategic Director of IAAD, outlined the pillars for tomorrow\u2019s designers during his presentation. The first is manual intelligence: \u201cPhysical know-how, from drawing to sculpture, remains the essential foundation for managing the relationship with form.\u201d Next comes social intelligence, which requires \u201cdesigning with full responsibility for the environmental and human impact that every new object will have on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding artificial intelligence, Borgogno clarified that the goal of the school\u2019s internal observatory is to train professionals capable of using this tool consciously: \u201cWe must master AI with a critical eye to prevent automation from replacing the designer\u2019s creative thinking.\u201d A call for practicality that also touches on digital ecology: \u201cBeing responsible also means reducing the energy footprint of the digital processes and servers required for the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Material as a bridge between technical data and aesthetic appeal<\/strong><\/p>\n Chris Lefteri, Alcantara\u2019s Design Ambassador, explored how algorithms can accelerate the use of circular raw materials. \u201cAI is essential for transforming complex data into aesthetic predictions, helping us create low-impact materials that are also visually compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n The challenge, according to Lefteri, is to transform sustainability from a duty into a pleasure, moving beyond the \u201cpoor\u201d aesthetics of the past: \u201cThe designer\u2019s task is to make eco-friendly materials so extraordinary that they are desirable for their beauty, not just because they are good for the planet.\u201d In this new vision, the success of clean technology depends on its ability to generate a genuine \u201cemotional and sensory experience for those who use it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Analog Rituals and new digital tools<\/strong><\/p>\n Florian Seidl of Lavazza shifted the discussion to the realm of everyday life, where the user experience is \u201crooted in the naturalness of the gesture and the tactile pleasure of physical interaction.\u201d Despite the rapid pace of progress, Seidl calls for a pragmatic evolution: \u201cNew digital tools are available to everyone: today, it\u2019s no longer enough to know how to design well; you have to know how to integrate these technologies to innovate production processes.\u201d One example is the Tabl\u00ec project, where sustainability becomes an industrial reality: \u201cWe\u2019ve eliminated plastic and aluminum by creating a machine that uses only pressed coffee, completely reinventing the capsule system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>