Confindustria Ceramica

22   Giugno   2016

40 years of Centro Ceramico

The Ceramic Centre, a consortium affiliated to Bologna University, celebrated the 40th anniversary of its foundation on 21 June this year at the Palazzina Ducale della Casiglia, the headquarters of Confindustria Ceramica

The aim of the event was to discuss the Ceramic Centre’s four decades of collaboration with the ceramic industry and to look at potential future developments.


The opening remarks were given by the Ceramic Centre’s Chairman Roberto Fabbri, who explained that the centre has been working actively with the world of business since 1976, the year it was founded. The initial and highly successful idea was to forge a partnership between the world of business and the world of industry that would engage with local stakeholders. “These 40 years have seen a process of growth and development in world excellence which has involved both the local ceramic industry and the Ceramic Centre,” commented Roberto Fabbri. “To celebrate this anniversary, we will look at the Ceramic Centre’s achievements and outline its future goals while helping the sector maintain its leadership position.”


Next to speak was Confindustria Ceramica Chairman Vittorio Borelli, who discussed the excellence of the Ceramic Centre in its relations with Confindustria Ceramica, the support it has provided to the development of national and international standards, its scientific research in the field of ceramic materials, and the services it has provided to local companies. Vittorio Borelli reported a telephone conversation he had had with Confindustria Chairman Giorgio Squinzi, who had been unable to attend due to unexpected engagements in Milan. “In my opinion, the Ceramic Centre was the best thing Assopiastrelle ever did,” Squinzi had said.


Next to speak was the President of the Province of Modena Giancarlo Muzzarelli, who described the Ceramic Centre as a “thinking head” that stimulates research and innovation in the field of production processes and new technologies while looking to the future. He discussed the action that is being taken at a local level, such as speeding up bureaucratic procedures for businesses and creating more efficient rail and road networks. In particular, he stressed the importance of investing in the local area, of actively promoting research so as to be able to respond to future challenges and achieve important results together with local players and the academic world.


The Regional Officer for Production Activities, Palma Costi, highlighted the system’s outstanding capacity to respond to the challenges posed by change, such as the severe economic crisis that businesses have faced since 2008. She went on to list several key strategies that can be adopted, including investing in human resource training and research, implementing dynamic technological transfer for production processes and products, and supporting small and medium-sized companies in their efforts to enter foreign markets.


The Chancellor of the University of Bologna, Francesco Ubertini, discussed the highly positive results of these last 40 years of collaboration with the Ceramic Centre. There is still plenty of room for improvement in relations between the University and Ceramic Centre, he argued. The only way of responding to this rapidly evolving system in the future will be to ensure that the academic world is even more open to the world of business than in the past, and that companies exploit these opportunities fearlessly with a view to constructive cooperation.


Next to speak was Giorgio Timellini, former Director of the Ceramic Centre, who gave participants an overview of its history. After describing the dynamic industrial environment created by the ceramic tile sector during the early years of its development, he went on to explain that the Centre’s consortium structure was chosen in accordance with its specific goals. He discussed the way it is organised as a laboratory staffed by experts from a wide range of fields, from materials research through to technical support, and its operations in numerous sectors such as chemistry, environment and energy. “This model has proved highly effective over the years,” explained Giorgio Timellini. “My task was to describe the past of the Ceramic Centre, but now we must look to the future.”


In keeping focus on the future, the meeting was concluded by the current Director of the Ceramic Centre, Maria Chiara Bignozzi, who explained that she considered her appointment both a challenge and a way of learning to see problems as opportunities. In setting out future strategies, Maria Chiara Bignozzi introduced the staff who work at the Ceramic Centre’s two branches in Bologna and Sassuolo. The future, she argued, is like a perfect machine made up of heterogeneous parts like the Ceramic Centre, Confindustria Ceramica, the University of Bologna and ceramic sector companies, all of which must work together harmoniously. Because, she explained, the future lies in research, and it is only through the application of research that it will it be possible to create real innovation.