"The CRC marGUNE was constituted on 4 November 2002 as a Cooperative Research Centre in High Performance Manufacturing, with the purpose of elevating the level of competitiveness of its business environment by introducing manufacturing processes that are competitive at a global level and by developing excellence in research. Therefore, the CRC marGUNE ventures on being the Basque hub of High Performance Manufacturing that will integrate the excellence networks that are created in Europe and throughout the world.

Within this framework of action, the design of the CRC marGUNE can be specified in the following points:

• the CRC marGUNE must be the tool that serves not only to establish the scientific bases that generate a new industrial fabric, but also to assist in evolving and transforming the businesses of the companies that comprise the current fabric of suppliers of manufacturing solutions.

• marGUNE must be a Centre of reference for High Performance Manufacturing at a regional, national and international level.

• a fundamental mission of marGUNE is to distribute the acquired knowledge and check it against the international scientific community, which is the way to advance along the line of promoting quality research.

• finally, the CRC marGUNE must apply mechanisms for taking advantage of knowledge in the form of new products and/or new companies. "