Legacy

Women-led start-ups and green hydrogen: in Catania, the Mandarano Award is giving innovation a new lease of life

From Proteo to the energy transition: Giuseppe Patti is transforming Raffaella Mandarano’s legacy into an incubation programme for women under 35

by Nino Amadore

7 June 2026

Il rendering dell’impianto che sarà realizzato a Priolo (Siracusa)

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

An award for female entrepreneurs, a green hydrogen project in the heart of Sicily’s petrochemical industry, and a technology company founded in Catania in 1986, when the word ‘start-up’ was not yet part of the business lexicon. The third edition of the “Lympha – Raffaella Mandarano” Award can be seen as follows: not just a competition, but a bridge between the past and the future.

The award, dedicated to the Catania-based manager who passed away in January 2024, is open to women aged between 18 and 35 with projects that have a significant social, environmental and technological impact. Applications will remain open until 16 September 2026. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in Catania on 9 October. The winner will receive €2,000 and a four-month incubation programme, valued at €10,000.

The story behind the award

So much for the news. Then there is the industrial story. Giuseppe Mario Patti, husband of Raffaella Mandarano and founder of the Lympha Prize in her memory, sums it up as follows: ‘The South can lead the way.’

Patti is a civil and hydraulic engineer, specialising in automation and remote control systems for water and gas networks. In 1986, Mandarano founded Proteo together with him and other young graduates. The field was hydroinformatics: hydraulics, hydrology and computer science applied to water management. Today, we would call it innovation for utilities. Back then, it was a pioneering venture.

“Talent and technology don’t need to go abroad to thrive. They need a network,” says Patti. It is this statement that shifts the focus away from commemoration and towards the real economy: skills, businesses, critical mass.

In 2005, Etna Hi-Tech was established, a consortium set up to bring together local technology companies. The idea was that small, innovative firms could, by working together, take on larger contracts and build supply chains.

Giuseppe Mario Patti

From water to hydrogen

The most surprising shift is the move from water to hydrogen. Patti is now chairman of GreenWaveR, a company dedicated to producing green hydrogen from renewable sources. The HFR – Hydrogen From Renewables project is being developed in the Augusta-Priolo Special Industrial Area (SIN), the heart of Sicily’s petrochemical industry: a plant to produce clean energy within one of the iconic sites of the old industry.

Herein lies the paradox. Catania’s innovation sector is attempting to enter the decarbonisation economy, starting from an area that for decades has been synonymous with Sicily’s oil and heavy chemical industries. The project, funded by NextGenerationEU under the PNRR ‘Hydrogen Valleys’ programme, involves an investment of €20.283 million and is due to become operational by May 2027.

At the heart of the plant will be a 3 MW PEM electrolyser, powered by a 4.5 MWp solar array and a 6 MWh storage system. Estimated annual production is around 600 tonnes of hydrogen. Construction will be carried out under ‘turnkey’ EPC contracts, in compliance with PNRR rules on the traceability of financial flows and the DNSH principle.

But the issue is not merely technical. Within one of the most controversial sites in Sicilian industry, a project is taking shape that seeks to channel expertise, infrastructure and manufacturing culture towards the energy transition. And it is here that the path begun with water, data and utilities finds its most unexpected destination.

The operational legacy

The Lympha Award is not merely a memorial award. It is an attempt to transform an entrepreneurial biography into a tool for new businesses led by women. “An idea without a support network remains a dream,” says Patti. And this is where the memory of his wife comes into play: incubation, support, networking, and access to an ecosystem.

Mandarano had devoted a significant part of her career to supporting women in business: for ten years she chaired the Committee of the Catania Chamber of Commerce, served as vice-president of Confindustria Catania and was director-general of the Catania Ricerche Consortium.

“Female talent, in business and technology, is the resource that the South wastes the most,” said Patti, recalling his wife’s conviction.

Winners of previous editions

In 2024, the winner was Valentina Mancuso with “Neurocognitive Virtual Reality”, software designed to facilitate the early diagnosis of cognitive decline. In 2025, the prize went to Sarah Kamsu, founder of We Africans United, a cultural ecosystem that produces digital content, events, a map of the Afro-Italian diaspora and the WAU Space in Milan.

The question is an industrial one: can a region that has built parts of its economy on the chemical industry, traditional energy and utilities transform those skills into new business ventures? The answer lies with Proteo, Etna Hi-Tech, GreenWaveR and the Lympha Award. ‘Proteo, EHT, GreenWaveR, the Lympha Award: a single thread,’ says Patti.