Multistrada 1200 S D|air Awarded Professor Ferdinand Porsche Award

VIENNA -- June 19, 2015: Dainese has received the prestigious “Professor Ferdinand Porsche” award for technological innovation for the Multistrada 1200 S D|air. Presented by the Vienna University of Technology (TU-Wien) every two-years, it is given to the most significant innovation in the automotive sector and this year, for the first time, to the developers of a protective system on a production motorbike.

The award ceremony took place today (Friday 19 June) at the Celebration Hall of Vienna University to honour the genius and innovation of the automotive pioneer, Ferdinand Porsche (1875 –1951), who was awarded an honorary degree and to commemorate the excellence of European engineering.

The award went to Dainese and Ducati in recognition of the engineering innovation shown by both companies in a project related to safety.

Professor Bernhard Geringer, director of the Institute for Vehicle Engines and Automotive Technology at Vienna University of Technology and coordinator of the committee of the “Professor Ferdinand Porsche Award” formally awarded the 2015 prize to Luigi Ronco, Director of Dainese’s D-Tec Research and Development department.

Cristiano Silei, Dainese CEO, commented:“The Ferdinand Porsche Award that Dainese received today is a recognition of the commitment that our company has always shown in relation to safety. Dainese is synonymous with excellence and technology applied to protection and the D-air project is a key element in our strategy. The integration of sensors on the Dainese D-air platform with vehicle electronics is the true innovation of the Multistrada 1200 S D|air. An absolute first in motorcycle history. The outstanding collaboration between Dainese and Ducati has allowed us to make great progress in increasing the use of D-air technology with road users”.

The Multistrada 1200 S D|air is the first production motorbike with an airbag system integrated to be certified by the TÜV SÜD. The control unit and the sensors on the bike communicate with the Dainese jacket, which contains the D-Air bag. For the first time, motorcycles and riders are now no longer seen as two separate entities but the bike and active rider protection work together seamlessly, via a wireless system to provide maximum safety.