“A CIP will further equip national entrepreneurs with concrete tools and instruments to increase their companies’ productivity and the competitiveness of goods manufactured and services provided in the global market,” reads the statement.
New training programs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for executives, managers, workers, and students, along with initiatives “to equip Portugal for technological innovation in support of economic development, social cohesion, and digital sovereignty, will be announced at the CIP’s 50th-anniversary celebrations,” on November 6th, the entity’s statement highlights.
“If in the first 50 years CIP was the main interlocutor with governments in defining economic policies and with unions in social consultation, from now on it will add new missions as a dynamic force and qualification agent for the Portuguese business fabric,” emphasizes Armindo Monteiro, president of the confederation, cited in the statement.
“CIP is clearly entering a new cycle,” states the leader of the confederation, adding: “Prepared to be a driver of economic, social, and industrial transformation alongside companies and entrepreneurs, thus contributing to making Portugal more competitive in the digital economy.”
“As the largest business confederation in the country, CIP positions itself not only as a mobilizer of companies but also as a government partner in public policies that increase the productivity and competitiveness of the Portuguese economy.”
To this end, the president of CIP considers it crucial to simplify the procedures that the state requires of citizens and companies. “Debureaucratization is one of the pillars of the Social Pact,” he emphasizes in the statement.
During the 50th-anniversary celebration ceremony on Wednesday, which will include a speech by the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Castro Almeida, and will be concluded by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Armindo Monteiro will announce CIP’s “new cycle.”
The confederation will also take the occasion to present the new logo, designed by Eduardo Aires. The redesign of the brand focused on the acronym CIP, as the Portuguese Industry Confederation. “This name constitutes the origin, the historical foundation, and the institution’s memory,” states Eduardo Aires.
“However, the confederation has evolved, expanding the economic fabric it represents to commerce and services: today CIP is the Business Confederation of Portugal,” he added.
“The new brand allows the acronym CIP to be seen in the foreground, but in the development of its structure and typographic reading, it also makes it possible to read the acronym CEP,” says Eduardo Aires. “This dual reading is intentional. It’s a visual device that unites two temporalities in the same sign without stylistic artifices.”
Additionally, the book ‘CIP – 50 Years of Future’ will be launched. The book recounts the history of the confederation from the preparatory contacts of the founding entrepreneurs immediately after April 25 to the present day.
“The trait that most impressed us in our research, and in the interviews conducted with various protagonists, was the parallelism and constant interaction of CIP and its interventions in the public space with the process of consolidation and growth of Portuguese democracy,” states Gonçalo Bordalo Pinheiro, coordinator of the team that wrote the book.
On the day of the celebration, there will be a photographic exhibition depicting key moments of industrial affirmation and companies in democratic Portugal.
The presidents of CIP since 1974 – António Vasco de Mello, Pedro Ferraz da Costa, José Manuel Morais Cabral, (Nogueira Simões, who has passed away), Francisco van Zeller, and António Saraiva – will converse on stage under the moderation of the current president.
