DG Enterprise and Industry hosts an exhibition in “Innovation in Ceramics”

The headquarters of DG Enterprise and Industry is holding an exhibition on “Innovation in  Ceramics” organized by the Council of Castellon with the support of the Valencian Regional Office in Brussels. The main aim of this exhibition, which was launched on 18 January and will run until 7 February 2010, is to show the latest innovations in ceramics and its applications as well as the recent improvements to ceramic production procedures for a more environmentally-friendly industry.

The exhibition consists of 6 illustrative panels focusing on different titles to show the latest  developments of the ceramic sector in this Spanish region: the panel Castellon explains the main ceramics heritage in the city of Castellon; the CityLAb, an initiative to turn the City into a big laboratory where innovation on ceramics can be tested; the Cluster, with data of the sector and the main organizations on ceramics; Environment, it explains the new eco-friendly uses and processes of the ceramic production; Architecture, how can ceramics improve and solve building problems; and Design, which illustrates the aesthetical dimension of ceramics with the collaboration of international designers  such as Swarowski.

Main ceramic cluster

The most important ceramics cluster in Europe is concentrated around Castellon and a  40% of the European production of ceramic tiles comes from this area, representing the 1% of the Spanish Gross Domestic Product and the 10% of the ceramic tile global production.  In Spain, 90 % of all the ceramic industries are located in the Castellon area and it provides employment to around 30,000 people in the region.

At the moment, the ceramic tile industry has strongly decreased its sales, and the province of Castellon is suffering particularly from the crisis due to the link between the ceramic tile production and the construction sector. Unemployment and an important decrease of the production are the main consequences of the crisis on the sector.

European Summit on Ceramics

During his visit to the exhibition last week, the President of the Government of the Valencian Region,  Mr Francisco Camps, met the Director General of DG Enterprise and Industry, Mr Heinz Zourek, and  suggested  him the possibility of holding a European Summit for all ceramic-producing regions in order to discuss the sector’s present and future situation.

Castellon already participates in the URBACT Network for Innovation in Ceramics (UNIC), an network of European cities with strong heritage on ceramics in order to exchange ideas and explain how to deal with the actual difficult context.