Our mission, vision and objectives

Mission

To be a reference entity in innovation in polymer engineering, contributing to the development of the national industry in the plastics and related sectors, ensuring an excellent response in the delivery of products and services, oriented to the needs of its R&D+i associates, customers and partners based on differentiated knowledge in strategic technological domains, materializing the vocation of converting ideas into products.

Vision

Consolidate itself as a reference entity for innovation within the national and international productive fabric in the field of product development, business models, systems, services and innovative multisectoral polymer-based solutions, based on the principles of sustainable development and on knowledge and differentiating technologies, seeking to create value on an ongoing basis, fostering economic development, industrial competitiveness and the construction of a technologically more evolved and simultaneously more sustainable society.

Institutional Values

Knowledge

Knowledge-driven

Innovation

Driven by and for innovation

Cooperation

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Quality

Quality and continuous improvement are the way to satisfy our customers

Sustainability

We are sustainable and we contribute to a more sustainable world

Ethic

We assume respect for others as the basis of our relationships

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Institutional Objectives

The main objectives of PIEP activity are:

• Contribute to the international recognition of the installed national competence in the production of tools, the development of systems and solutions, technologies, and the design of innovative polymer-based products with perceptible added value;

• Stimulate creativity, capture relevant knowledge, through technological surveillance, and enhance the application and transfer of new knowledge produced to different sectors of application (economic and social enhancement of knowledge);

• Formalize the link between the sector's industry, the University of Minho, and its international contact networks;

• Evidencing the endogenous national capacity to respond, on time, to sector trends and specific innovation challenges;

• Promote the participation of national companies in national and European R&D+i projects;

• Promote the economic valuation of knowledge by encouraging the protection of intellectual property;

• Contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of companies and, consequently, to national socio-economic development;

• Promote and develop a culture and effective practice of R&D+i in the sector, providing the necessary human resources, physical infrastructure, and knowledge;

• Promote the development of applied scientific knowledge, namely through research projects, master and doctoral theses;

• Assist in the qualification of human resources in polymer engineering at companies, especially in applied R&D+i activities;

• Align its offer with the needs of different actors, promoting cooperative and interdisciplinary innovation;

• Increase and qualify the services provided by the PIEP to the industry;

• Promote a culture of sustainable development, in the environmental, sociological, and economic vectors, with a particular focus on the use of national raw materials and endogenous resources.

Quality and innovation policy

Aware of the role of PIEP in the production of knowledge, its application, and effective transfer to the industrial productive fabric, the Board of Directors of PIEP and its Collaborators are committed to:

1. Assume compliance with the legislation in force, the Management System requirements, and other requirements that apply to its activities;

2. Develop and maintain, in a perspective of continuous improvement, quality, innovation, environment, safety, and health management systems at work;

3. Promote the professional development of its employees, ensuring the alignment of their skills with the functions they perform and their satisfaction;

4. Strengthen its relationship with its associates, customers, and partners, based on a better understanding of their needs and expectations, improving their level of satisfaction;

5. Continuously improve the quality of the PIEP service, through, for example, systematic compliance with test methods;

6. Continuously create value for its associates, customers, and partners;

7. Focus its activity on the timely achievement of established objectives;

8. Ensuring impartiality;

9. Provide the necessary resources so that the requirements of the reference standards are rigorously complied with, as well as the consistent functioning of the laboratory and certification activities as a certifying entity;

10. Optimize available resources, stimulating creativity, capturing relevant information and knowledge, and disseminating the knowledge produced.