The Honor of Merit was conferred by President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella
Rome, 10 April 2024 – Domenico De Rosa, CEO of SMET Group, is a Knight of the Republic. The Honor of Merit was conferred by President Sergio Mattarella, upon an indication from the Prime Minister’s Office. The prestigious award is granted annually by the President of the Republic to citizens who have most distinguished themselves in the economic, cultural, artistic, civil and military fields.
“I am deeply honored by this nomination granted by President Sergio Mattarella, which is a very high recognition, of great human and professional value,” said Domenico De Rosa. “The honor of Knight of the Republic rewards the ethical values and entrepreneurial vision that we put at the service of the community on a daily basis, the innovative drive that has given birth to a new model of sustainable transport, the constant commitment to build a new paradigm of progress and a concretely sustainable future.”
Indeed, between innovation and ethics lies Domenico De Rosa’s active contribution to the education of new generations, in collaboration with the most important universities in the area. In fact, De Rosa is Culture of Matter at the Master of Science in Management Engineering degree program at the Parthenope University of Naples, as well as a member of the Technical Steering Committee of the Bachelor of Business Law degree program at the University of Salerno. “We have chosen to dedicate part of our time to the future of the country, trying to transfer to young people passion, experience and knowledge gained in many years of entrepreneurial activity,” De Rosa commented.
On the strength of the innovative drive he brought to the transportation and logistics sector, in 2022 Domenico De Rosa was called to join ANGI, the National Association of Young Innovators, as a member of the Technical Scientific Committee. Innovation, which is for De Rosa a founding value and an inspiring business principle, is in fact declined on a daily basis not only in the new model of sustainable transport, but also in every business choice, such as the use of artificial intelligence: a very useful tool that represents an unprecedented economic, social and cultural revolution, but which must be used and approached with the right balance between innovation and ethics.
The new model of sustainable transport promoted by the SMET Group was born in the mid-1990s, thanks to a strategic intuition: the enormous potential offered to the world of transport by maritime and rail intermodality, not only in economic terms but also and above all in terms of environmental sustainability. Today, the SMET Group, which has consolidated the business to the milestone of European leadership in the sector, operates mainly in intermodal mode, reserving only the first and last miles for the road route, carried out with the latest generation of vehicles powered by alternative fuels to diesel.