Ceit, 40 years at the forefront of technology and research

This year, in addition to its forty years of history, Ceit has approved a new strategic plan in which specialisation, technology and talent will be its main focuses for the coming years

This October, the Ceit technology centre, a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), is celebrating forty years of collaborating with the main companies in the Basque Country to promote technological innovation in the region. To celebrate this important milestone in its history, the technology centre held a special event yesterday at the Aquarium in Donostia-San Sebastian, which served as a meeting point for the centre’s main collaborators.

On an institutional level, the event was attended by Arantxa Tapia, Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment of the Basque Government; Markel Olano, Deputy General of Gipuzkoa and Eneko Goia, Mayor of Donostia-San Sebastian. Ceit was also accompanied on its anniversary by a number of collaborators and leading representatives of the surrounding business fabric, such as Iñigo Ucín, President of GRUPO MONDRAGON and Ibon Iribarren, Executive Director of Linqcase, among others.

As well as taking a look at the past, present and future of the centre, during the event the current challenges facing the technology centre and the rest of the industrial fabric of the surrounding area were analysed in a round table discussion in which Ceit figures such as Reyes Elizalde, Scientific Director, Igone Vélez, Director of the ICT Division and Íñigo Iturriza, Director of the Materials and Manufacturing Division, with representatives of technology companies such as Jorge Rodriguez, Managing Director of Mainrail, Ibon Iribarren and Ibon Cerro, Director of JEMA Energy.

Likewise, an exhaustive analysis of the keys to achieving a sustainable future for Donostia, Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country as a whole was also carried out, unravelling some of the challenges that the technological future will have to address.

During his speech, the president of Ceit, José María Rodríguez Ibabe, thanked all the collaborators for their support, as well as all the people who have worked and are currently working at the centre. In addition, he said, “this milestone opens a new exciting stage with multiple objectives on the horizon in which we will maintain our commitment to specialisation, the development of new technological assets and talent management, as detailed in our new Strategic Plan for 2022-2025”.

In this sense, the centre will prioritise specialisation in those areas in which it is already a benchmark, such as advanced manufacturing, sustainable transport, the circular economy and digitisation, in order to be able to offer a better service to companies, both in the surrounding area and in Europe as a whole. To achieve these objectives, the centre’s new strategic plan, presented at the beginning of this year, plans to allocate 40 million euros to the development of new assets.

About Ceit

Ceit is a non-profit technology centre, created in 1982 on the initiative of the University of Navarra. It uses its high specialisation in advanced manufacturing, sustainable mobility, circular economy and digitalisation to develop industrial applied research projects, in close collaboration with companies.

It also promotes excellence in applied research through scientific production, participation in scientific and technical dissemination forums, as well as doctoral training within the framework of industrial research projects. It is a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA).