TECA Fitness Wins the Corradino D’Ascanio Award for Innovation

Two stories from Abruzzo meet almost nine thousand kilometres from home. The first is that of Corradino D’Ascanio, the engineer from Popoli who gave Italy the Vespa. The second is that of TECA, which has been designing strength training machines for over forty years.

On Friday 30 October, at the House of Roosevelt in Shanghai, these two stories came together: TECA Fitness received the Corradino D’Ascanio Award for Innovation, now in its fourth edition. For Abruzzo, it is confirmation that innovation can start here and travel far.

An award born from Abruzzo natives in China

The award was created by people who took Abruzzo with them. In 2022 the Abruzzo community in Shanghai, gathered in the Associazione Abruzzesi in Cina, chose the name of Corradino D’Ascanio to recognise companies that combine technological innovation, industrial excellence and dialogue between Italy and China. The Abruzzo Region sponsors the initiative.

Before TECA Fitness, it was received by very different companies: Valagro in agricultural biostimulants, Fameccanica in industrial automation, Walter Tosto in large energy equipment, and Midea Italia in home appliances and air conditioning. This year, for the first time, the award enters professional fitness.

The D’Ascanio Award at a glance

Award

“Corradino D’Ascanio” Award for Innovation, 4th edition (2026)

Winner

TECA Fitness (Fisico S.r.l.)

When and where

Friday 30 October 2026, House of Roosevelt, Shanghai

Promoted by

Associazione Abruzzesi in Cina, since 2022

Sponsored by

Abruzzo Region

For having transformed strength training, over more than forty years of activity, into an expression of Italian excellence in scientific research, biomechanical engineering, technological innovation and design. TECA has revolutionised the concept of strength training by identifying three distinct expressions of strength (isolated, global and dynamic) and developing original solutions through its own research centre.

From the motivation on the award plaque

The engineer who did not like motorcycles

Corradino D’Ascanio was born in Popoli in 1891 and, as a child, watched birds fly. That curiosity became a profession. In 1925 he patented his helicopter and in 1930, at Ciampino, his D’AT3 set three international records.

After the war, Italy had to get moving again. Enrico Piaggio was looking for a new vehicle, affordable and accessible to everyone, and rejected a first prototype because it looked too much like a motorcycle. He turned to D’Ascanio, who had an unusual advantage: he did not like motorcycles. He never rode them and could not stand having to climb over them.

The engineer approached the challenge like someone who had never ridden one. He opened up the frame to make it easy to step on, enclosed the engine to protect clothes, and moved the gear shift to the handlebar so the hands never had to leave it. From aeronautics he took the load-bearing body, light and strong. A flat tyre, for him, should not be a job for a mechanic.

In 1946 the Vespa was born. One of Italy’s greatest inventors of the twentieth century changed how a whole country moved with a simple idea: start from the person.

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