When he accepted the invitation to work at CITEVE more than twenty years ago, António Braz Costa never imagined that this courtship would lead to marriage.
The current director-general of the Textile and Clothing Technology Centre based in Vila Nova de Famalicão, who decided to become an engineer instead of a musician at the age of 18, explains that getting ahead is his main job. "I try to constantly understand what's happening, to constantly put things into perspective and to realise where we want to be in five or ten years' time so that we can get there and so that CITEVE can transfer answers to the industry," he said.
Braz Costa believes that innovation is, and always has been, the main answer to the challenges faced by the Textile and Clothing industry and, for this reason, he emphasises the "extraordinary path" taken by the sector's industry and by CITEVE, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in May, in the same year that Vila Nova de Famalicão is a European Entrepreneurial Region (EER).
The director-general of CITEVE, who this Thursday was named by mayor Mário Passos as one of the "Faces of EER", points to sustainability, digitalisation and performance as the sector's main challenges. "The textile industry, in a global way, are in a perfect hurricane and the Portuguese textiles are also full of opportunities and challenges. Everyone is looking for the same thing and the sector in Portugal has to be at the forefront of these processes if we are not to be overtaken," he said.
"I have no doubt that in 50 years' time the sector will be completely zero footprint, with solutions that allow the production of a garment without negative impacts on the environment," he added.
António Braz Costa is thus the second "Face of ERR" to be highlighted by the Mayor of Famalicão in the itinerary that throughout this year will display many of the names that help position Vila Nova de Famalicão as one of the country's largest and most thriving economies and boost the municipality's entrepreneurial DNA.