Connecting Excellences is a project for yacht design students selected from Italy’s leading academies, featuring a competition to imagine the future of life on board.
Now in its third edition, the Benetti shipyard presents “Connecting Excellences” to mark World Boating Day 2026. The project brings together three complementary elements: Benetti’s design culture, the vision of the international designers associated with the shipyard, and emerging talent from leading Italian academies.
The initiative forms part of the Group’s People & Organisation division’s training and talent search programme, in collaboration with leading Italian institutions with which the shipyard collaborates, such as the Politecnico di Milano, IED Turin and the University of Genoa – La Spezia. Around 100 students will be selected. The event aims to present the shipyard not only as a centre of manufacturing excellence but also as a space for intellectual exchange. It is a cultural and design hub that fosters direct dialogue between contemporary yachting professionals and the new generation of designers.
An immersive experience in Benetti design
The project will kick off on 15 May 2026 at the Benetti shipyard in Livorno, with a day dedicated to students, designed as a hands-on experience in real-world yachting processes.
Guests will be welcomed by Camilla Calza, Benetti’s Marketing Director. This will be followed by a round-table discussion, moderated by journalist Matteo Zaccagnino, featuring Sebastiano Vida, Benetti’s Head of Product, alongside Charlie Baker, Client & Project Director at RWD, and Giorgio Cassetta, CEO and founder of Cassetta Yacht Designers. The designers involved will act as mentors, sharing not only completed projects but also the processes, design constraints and creative choices, offering students an authentic and practical insight into the profession.
The discussion will focus on Benetti’s deck designs, presented to students as innovative solutions and expressions of a cultural shift in the way we experience the sea.
Case studies
The design process will be based on three case studies, each representing a distinct interpretation of the Benetti style.
The Oasis Deck®, developed with RWD, redefines socialising on board by expanding communal spaces and creating a direct connection with the water.
The Veranda Deck®, also designed by RWD, introduces a new continuity between interior and exterior, transforming the main deck into a fully fledged living veranda open on three sides.
The Cabana Deck®, designed by Cassetta Yacht Designers, reinterprets the beach club in a residential key, creating a shaded, flexible and immersive 120-square-metre ‘pieds dans l’eau’ space at the stern.
These projects mark the evolution of the Benetti shipyard, which is able to interpret, through design, the new demands for space, quality of life on board and the relationship with the sea.
The Deck narrative, together with direct discussions between the designers present and the participants, will culminate in the official launch of the “Designing the future deck” competition: an invitation to students to imagine and design the deck of the future, interpreting the evolution of on-board lifestyle, the new behaviours and needs of owners, the relationship with the sea, as well as the themes of sustainability and technological integration.
Participants will be asked to develop design concepts, visualisations and a narrative vision for their project. The programme will run for 10 months, with a final selection scheduled for March 2027.
The jury, coordinated by Sebastiano Vida, will be composed of designers, industry professionals and journalists involved with the Benetti shipyard. The selected projects will be presented at a dedicated event in spring 2027, offering the best students the opportunity to access training and professional experience within the Benetti world and with the designers involved.
With this initiative, Benetti reinforces its commitment to building an ongoing dialogue with the younger generation, helping to shape the future of yachting through a vision and a concrete training programme that bridges the industry and the talents of tomorrow.
(Designing the future deck – Barchemagazine.com – May 2026)
