Red Rock Technology CEO Michele Fiscalini Receives the Premio Eccellenza Italiana in Washington DC

On October 16, 2026, the National Press Club in Washington DC hosted the XIII edition of the Premio Eccellenza Italiana, the international award created in 2014 by journalist Massimo Lucidi and organised by Fondazione E-novation together with the International Reputation Institute. Michele Fiscalini, CEO of Red Rock Technology, was among the sixteen honourees who received the Excellence award, selected from more than 150 nominations.

The recognition was not about a product. It was about a way of building.

That distinction matters. The organisers cited Red Rock as an agentic AI infrastructure company operating at the frontier of artificial intelligence, security and sovereign systems. This edition was dedicated to moving beyond the traditional pillars of Made in Italy, and that citation places Red Rock's work inside a broader definition of what Italian excellence means today.

Washington as Strategic Context

The National Press Club sits between the White House and Congress, at the centre of the American institutional and media landscape. Since 2014, and originally under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Premio has used that stage to recognise Italians who carry merit and competence into the world. This year's Washington list placed Michele alongside the Presidency of the Italian Republic, journalist Maurizio Molinari and researchers from the National Institutes of Health. Nine further Excellence awards will be presented at the Senate of the Italian Republic in Rome in November.

From Made in Italy to Made by Italians

The 2026 edition was framed around a deliberate shift. Food, fashion and furniture remain global icons, but the organisers made clear they no longer describe the full reach of Italian competence. The focus moved to Italians building in aerospace, research, advanced engineering and artificial intelligence. Two nominations arriving from Dubai, Michele's among them, were singled out by the organisers as having shaped this year's themes of sustainability and excellence.

For a group operating from Dubai Internet City and London, that is the point. Italian engineering heritage, the UAE's digital transformation agenda and the global conversation on technological sovereignty meet in the same place.

What the Recognition Signals

Red Rock delivers managed software architecture and engineering capabilities, together with AI agent infrastructure for operational automation and sovereign systems. The principle is consistent across every engagement: institutions must be able to govern, audit and control the systems they depend on. The same principle drives Seedelligence, Red Rock's sovereign food infrastructure initiative and AI Brain.

The selection at the Emirates Agriculture Conference and Exhibition in Al Ain, the institutional engagement across the UAE, and now the recognition in Washington are not separate events. They are a cumulative signal that sovereign digital infrastructure is no longer a niche concern. It is becoming part of how excellence is defined.

Red Rock thanks Fondazione E-novation, the International Reputation Institute, Massimo Lucidi and the Premio committee, and congratulates all the 2026 honouree.

The next stage is execution.

If you lead an institution building the systems it will depend on for the next decade and want to understand what Red Rock can deliver, get in touch with the team.