The Technological Centre of Furniture and Wood of the Region of Murcia (CETEM) is a private and non-profit organisation located in the town of Yecla, one of the most important furniture clusters of Spain. CETEM was created on the initiative of private companies from the furniture and woodworking sectors of the Region of Murcia, and established in 1995 with the initial support of the regional government, the Spanish Ministry of Industry and the European Union. In 2019, CETEM was awarded “Best Technology Centre of the Year” in the 21st Century National Technology Awards.
Over the last 25 years, CETEM has been promoting and implementing innovation and technological development in the Furniture Sector, making CETEM the main business reference in the industry and becoming an important economic engine in the Murcia Region.
Its main objective is to promote and undertake activities, projects and services, innovative technology to improve, promote and encourage the development and continuous improvement of companies in the sector of wood, furniture and related services, making them more competitive.
CETEM is formed by 43 professionals with different backgrounds: engineering, technology transfer, business administration, chemistry, psychology, teaching, design, etc. CETEM works in different areas of expertise: (1) Product Engineering, (2) Material Science, (3) Electronics & Home Automation, (4) Process Technology, (5) Robotics, (6) Industrial and Organisational Psychology and (7) VET Training.
Since its creation, CETEM is present in several R&D&I projects as coordinator or as important partner developing an important national, European and International network and remarkable background in this kind of projects. FP7, ERASMUS+, INTERREG, COST ACTION, H2020, etc. are some of samples of funding programmes where the research centre has been involved providing CETEM’s staff with rich experience in the management of all these projects.
Furthermore, CETEM is recognized as Technological Innovation Centre (CIT Nº83) and as Technology Transfer Office (TTO Nº165). Since 2010, CETEM has managed over a thousand consultations to R&D. CETEM is responsible for establishing channels of collaboration and productive cooperation between research carried out at the university and those solutions from other potentially exploitable sectors in the furniture and wood industry. CETEM promotes and advices potential clients and researchers on the best formulas for collaboration and carries out agreements and research contracts, as well as technical assistance, facilitating the implementation of R&D projects.
From an educational perspective, in 2012, CETEM launched “Elernia”, a novel learning platform that offers a wide range of both face-to-face and e-learning courses in the field of vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE), where learners can check all training catalogue and even participate in online courses.
You can also get in touch with Almudena Muñoz Puche (a.munoz@cetem.es), the project manager in charge of the INSIGHT project among others.