An annual event, the Sir Misha Black Awards honour the exceptional role of individuals and institutions within design education.

Established by the RCA, with the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry (RDI), the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Design and Industries Association and the College of Medallists, the awards commemorate the life of architect, designer, and professor Sir Misha Black, whose pioneering work played a crucial role in the development of design at the RCA and in the UK.

In 2012, the Sir Misha Black Awards Committee awarded the Medal for Distinguished Services to Design Education to Professor Ezio Manzini, Italy, at a ceremony at the RCA.

Ezio Manzini was recognised for more than two decades of work in the field of design for sustainability, with a more recent focus on social innovation – considered as a major driver of sustainable changes, and on what design can do to support it. 

He started and currently coordinates DESIS, an international network of schools of design and other design-related organisations that are specifically active in the field of design for social innovation and sustainability.

In addition to his continuous involvement in the design for sustainability arena, he has explored and promoted design in different fields, including Design of Materials in the 1980s; Strategic Design in the 1990s (creating a Master's Degree Course in Strategic Design in the Politecnico in Milan); and since 2000 starting specific courses in Service Design in the same institution.

Click on the thumbnails (left) to view the introduction by Professor Jeremy Myerson followed by the award ceremony, and the talk by Ezio Manzini.