Milan, Italy—Indena’s centennial celebrations have culminated with the company’s first “phygital” summit, according to a press release—an experience both physical and digital, intended to celebrate Indena’s heritage and its vision for the next 100 years.

The theme of the congress was botanical science as applied to human health: the scientific approach to dietary supplements, botanical quality, and pharmaceutical excellence applied to plants. Plus, the event itself was emblematic of Indena’s approach—the company’s focus on sustainability worked as a guideline when organizing the summit, for which Indena designed and implemented a sustainable management system in order to get international certification according to the ISO 20121 standard. The standard offers guidance and best practices to help control events’ social, economic, and environmental impact: low-consumption LEDs, no disposable plastic, equipment recycling, local suppliers, safety and security, and CO2 emissions calculation. The process is voluntary and is verified through third party TÜV NORD before, during, and after the event.

IdB Holding VP Benedetto Della Beffa, grandson of one of Indena’s Founder’s, stated in the press release: “Everything began on the first of August 1921, when Carlo Boccaccio Inverni published his first list of titrated botanical extracts. It was the beginning of a new company, which my grandfather Biagio Alberto Della Beffa, then a Cavalry Officer in Permanent Active Service, would later join. In the years that followed, his son Luigi Della Beffa, my father, grew the company, making it a player of global scope. Today Indena is global market leader in botanical derivatives for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries and offers avant-garde CDMO (custom development manufacturing organization) services. If we can boast 90% exports and can number important multinational companies in the sector among our main customers, this is due to the founders’ strong vision, which still guides us today and brings capital oriented towards long-term results in relation to more sustainable growth.”

The event featured presentations on Indena’s history and key innovations from notable scientists and Indena R&D representatives, and celebrated the first edition of a biennial prize named the“Indena—Biagio Alberto Della Beffa” prize,wherein Indena is offering a financial reward and an internship to the three winners: Valeria Cavalloro, Silvia Scarpato, and Sofia Drakopoulou.

Related: Happy 100 Years, Indena! State of the Botanical Supply Chain: 2021 Meeting Supply Demands: Raw Materials Update

Daniele Giavini, Managing Director for Indena, looked to the future, stating in the press release: “The intriguing opportunities that are ahead of us in the future include several new areas of development. People are looking with interest to their holistic wellness; for this reason, personalized care will grow in importance and the focus will gradually move from treatment to prevention. Encouraging and empowering people to become a healthier version of themselves is a goal with global impacts, made possible also by the advent of digital health solutions. Indena develops, manufactures, and sells several active ingredients that can successfully contribute to this new idea of wellbeing.”

Indena foresees digital healthcare being a key point for future wellness. The company will use artificial intelligence platforms to extend the beneficial indications of existing ingredients, and to identify new leads for additional indications.

Indena also has major investments in the instalment and expansion of state-of-the-art production lines for new developments in the space of high potency molecules, with the aim of increasing the company’s ability to provide a broader and more integrated CDMO service to pharmaceutical companies that are finally going back more to quality and reliability.

The recording of the event will be available onIndena.com.