Pnat (Project Nature) is a multidisciplinary company composed of plant scientists, botanists, architects, engineers and designers that realizes innovative projects at the scale of product, architecture and the city. Founded as a spin-off of the University of Florence by prof. Stefano Mancuso together with the agronomist and botanists Elisa Azzarello, Camilla Pandolfi and the architects Antonio Girardi and Cristiana Favretto, can rely on the expertise of environmental and electronic engineers and architects and landscape designers to study solutions that amplify the innate ability of plants to produce benefits in terms of air quality, food production, sustainability and psychological well-being.

Thanks to the collaboration with the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology (LINV), one of the most important centers of plant research in the world, directed by Stefano Mancuso, Pnat aims to transfer the knowledge on the behavior of plants in the project at different scales, from domestic to urban, developing innovative design and technological solutions. 

Among the projects developed by Pnat we can mention Fabbrica dell’Aria, the innovative botanical filtration device that reduces indoor pollution thanks to plants. It is an indoor greenhouse equipped with a system designed and built by Pnat that uses plants to absorb and degrade air pollutants and purify the air efficiently and sustainably. The Fabbrica dell’Aria project is a finalist for the Compasso d’Oro Award. 

Another project by Pnat, Jellyfish Barge, a floating greenhouse able to desalinate seawater presented at EXPO 2015, Pnat has obtained international awards from institutions such as UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). In 2015, IT was the winner of the “Innovative Ideas and Technologies for Agribusiness” award launched by the United Nations and CNR, the first phase of the Horizon 2020 program “SME Instrument Phase 1”, the “New entrepreneurial talents” award banned by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and the “Ideas for change” award banned by the United Nations (2015). 

In 2019, Pnat won the European tender UIA (Urban Innovative Action) with the City of Prato, for Urban Jungle, the project of reforestation and urban and environmental regeneration through plants.