Técnico, Sintra City Hall, ASSIMAGRA and Cluster Portugal Mineral Resources are part of the innovative project StoneCITI, the new Natural Stone Industry Tech Hub. The agreement of property transfer between the Sintra City Hall and APEDRA was signed this Friday, 7th February, in the old Pardal Monteiro factory, which will be transformed in the new Natural Stone Industry Tech Hub. The ceremony was attended by the president of Técnico, Rogério Colaço, the executive vice-president of ASSIMAGRA, Miguel Goulão, the president of Sintra City Hall, Basílio Horta, and the director of APEDRA and also vice-president of Técnico, Pedro Amaral.
“This ceremony marks a new beginning. We designed this Hub, we will design and use intelligence, we are going to get the most out of technology in order to create innovation, thus benefiting industry”, said Pedro Amaral.
Miguel Goulão highlighted the importance of this ceremony: “The know-how of working the stone was born here, with many men and women from this region. And this allowed this sector to be present at major works throughout the world. StoneCITI will add even more ambition to this sector”.
The president of Técnico shared his honour to be part of this project. “The stone industry is invariably a symbol of Portugal. However, so far, it is not associated with technology, progress and development. The use of technology is necessary to develop this sector, to create more wealth and more efficiency, with less environmental impact”. According to the president of Técnico “this is the first time that this sector has the opportunity to act differently, to grow, to combine technology and science in order to add value to this sector, which is extremely important for our country”.
“This is the achievement of a major project for Sintra and Portugal”, said Basílio Horta, who also highlighted “this project marks, not only, the revitalization of this place, but of the entire sector at local, national and international level”.
StoneCITI aims to promote innovation, technological, logistic and operational development of the natural stone industry, the valorization and management of mineral resources in Sintra, the internationalization of the sector, and also professional training. The Hub will be managed by APEDRA.
