The Multidisciplinary Center for Development of Ceramic Materials was proposed by researchers of Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas (IPEN). The activities of the proposed Center are totally focused on the enhancement of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. The Center was constituted with the multifold mission of encouraging basic and applied research - so that new knowledge can be constantly generated - and promoting a systematic transfer of this knowledge, for technological applications and educational purposes. This continuous process spreads knowledge, enlightens the society through instruction, and feeds back the cycle with more demands, to be satisfied with innovative approaches. To achieve these goals, the Center elects the industry and the schools of all levels as qualified partners for the task.
        The main idea of the Center is to formally establish in this country a reference for research and development in ceramics. For this, the Center consolidates an existing infrastructure and improves it to host, as a single and unique institution, the most fundamental necessities of the nation in science, engineering and education, basic and applied research, technology transfer and diffusion of knowledge.
        Hosting and encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations, the Center opens new means for research, on the campuses and outside the universities. The Center provides intellectual atmosphere and physical means for scientists of different departments and institutions, to meet and work together. Theoreticians and experimentalists, mathematicians, physicists, chemists and engineers will have the opportunity to discuss and argue in such a way that the ideas of each area of research will influence each other collectively, and thus new research themes will emerge.
        Besides, the Center acts as a catalyst to promote partnerships among national and international institutions acting in the area of ceramics. The existence of research groups in universities and research centers away from the Center headquarters (UFSCar), and also researchers from industry, simplifies the access to specific competence in each topic, and turns research more efficient in terms of the cost/benefit ratio. The exchange of knowledge, resulting from these partnerships, maximizes results, magnifying the effects of investments in this area.
        As a generator of scientific competence, the Center attracts partnerships and collaborations with the industry, for the development of products and processes, as well as for technology transfer. Through these kinds of interactions, Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Eletroquímica e Cerâmica (LIEC/UFSCar-UNESP), the primary seed generating this Center, has been actuating in partnerships with the industrial sector in various sub-areas of ceramics (refractories, tiles, electronic ceramics etc.). The Construction of the Center opens new perspectives in technological research. A network of industries of the sector will be induced to emerge and expand. New products and technologies will appear and, as a natural consequence, new patents, assuring to the participating companies prestige in the market and recognition by competitors.
        As economics becomes a global issue, a new dynamics for science education has to arise, so that information may flow on a continuous basis, thus entitling larger parts of the population to absorb and understand a virtually endless assortment of newer and rapidly changing technologies. Within this framework, the Center will act directly on the diffusion front, offering a multitude of opportunities for the interested person - kids, teenagers and adults of all ages. Learning and getting in contact with science will be a permanently available activity at the Center, at any educational level, from fundamental education to medium level and university, including continuous education for teachers.
        The Center is being proposed by experienced researchers, with a huge background in research, innovation and diffusion, enthusiastically supported by their home institutions, which offer significant counterparts including a large of land area for expansions. Even before been born, the Center owns already a rich history. An example of this hereditary patrimony comes from an expressive number admitted by Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN): previous contracts with LIEC along 11 years have turned into a benefit amounting to more than 14 million reais for the company. The Multidisciplinary Center for Development of Ceramic Materials is not just another institution, with known address and qualified staff. It exists already, in practice. This proposal formally responds to FAPESP's invitation and officially presents our disposition to pursue this challenging task.
        To accomplish its duties, the Center will host science and development, knowledge and technology. But, much more than this, the Center will host people on both sides of the counter, learning together. This is the natural way to accomplish its mission.