The launch of CIGMA results from a partnership with the Ilídio Pinho Foundation and KPMG Portugal, and is further supported by AEP – the Portuguese Business Association, AEMinho – the Minho Business Association, and the Association of Family Businesses. The centre will build on the knowledge and experience of Católica Porto Business School, while also mobilising the interdisciplinary expertise of the schools that make up Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Porto.
The opening remarks were delivered by the Pro-Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Isabel Braga da Cruz, who thanked all the guests who agreed to share their experiences and perspectives on topics such as innovation, culture, legacy, ambition and risk. The Dean of Católica Porto Business School, João Pinto, also addressed the audience, highlighting the ambition of the new centre: “CIGMA is born today with a clear ambition: to develop better leaders for a better world.”
The event featured a keynote address by the Founder and President of the Ilídio Pinho Foundation, Ilídio Pinho, who emphasised the importance of companies’ ability to respond to innovation challenges: “Any company that fails to respond 'just in time' to new innovative market challenges will go bankrupt, it is only a matter of time.” He also underlined that “the creation of CIGMA is extremely important for the academic and technological education that companies need today and increasingly in the future.”
CIGMA’s Co-Directors, Ana Salomé Martins, Industry Fellow at Católica Porto Business School, and Susana Costa e Silva, Professor at the School, presented the concept of the new centre and its main initiatives. These are firmly focused on developing top management capabilities that determine collective performance and long-term value creation. CIGMA’s approach seeks to bring the best academic research closer to the real challenges faced by managers and organisations, bringing together senior decision-makers to explore key themes that define the complexity and interdependence of today’s management challenges, within a true community of practice and peer exchange.
The first panel discussion followed, under the theme “The Company’s Operating System: Discipline, Culture and Innovation”, with contributions from the Chairman of HFA, Carlos Alves, the COO of Inductiva, Clara Gonçalves, and the CEO of WEGHO, Carlos Magalhães. The session was moderated by Ana Salomé Martins.
The second round table focused on “Leadership, Legacy and Global Ambition”, moderated by the Head of Tax at KPMG, Luís Magalhães, and featured the CEO of TMG Automotive, Isabel Furtado, the CEO of Bial, António Portela, the CEO of Mota-Engil, Carlos Mota Santos, and the President of the Association of Family Businesses, José Germano de Sousa.
The event concluded with an address by the Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and of State Reform, Gonçalo Saraiva Matias, who highlighted the importance of the link between knowledge and the real economy: “We want knowledge, whether from fundamental or applied research, to be transferred to the real economy, to companies, and to be transformed into value and economic growth. That is what we want, and that is exactly what I see happening here today with the launch of CIGMA.”
