/ INTERVIEW Among other strategies for improving the profile of the companies, you highlight the need for specialising with own products. This requires a significant level of innovation and investment. What is the current 'vital' situation of most of these companies? In response to your question, the PTEMM groups the main Sectorial Technological Agents frames in the Work Groups known as “cross-sector”, such as specialists in the manu- facturing technologies which are considered to be basic within the Sector. Its main role is to identify innovative tech- nology and carry out its transfer to the Sector’s companies, for these to improve their competitiveness and be able to launch the new product or component on the market. The PTEMM is the forum in which this type of companies will find the opportunities and support to transform themselves by creating a new product or component which will allow them to break into the international market and introduce them into the dynamics of innovation. The warm welcome from the companies regarding the structure and activities proposed by the PTEMM is mainly due to the differentiating elements which are introduced by this Platform, focused on product technology in relation to other Technological Platforms which are more focused on processes. Specific sectors such as automotive, aerospace, healthcare, energy or the science sector are the markets for the PTEMM, or rather the ‘sectors-clients’. Our focus is set on the manufacturing companies within the metal-mechanical sector which work as auxiliary companies for these previous sectors. 24 / The auxiliary companies within our country take on vast with a complementary role (technological aspects or those related to funding and market research – internationalisa- tion). And it includes the main companies, agents and insti- tutions from each of these Groups. There are companies in Spain which have extremely valuable know-how, are competitive and perfectly organised but, despite this, have never found the opportunity to start a busi- ness line with their own product. These are auxiliary compa- nies, which work for a few companies from their surrounding and focus on quality and meeting the deadlines set by their clients. Many of these are family companies, governed by businessmen who have worked very hard for years in order to build a financially healthy company with good machinery. On the other hand, from the meetings and interviews held up until now, we can state that the initiative has the full support and unwavering commitment for collaboration of the “driving force companies” (which identify the improve- ment needs of their products and/or of new components for their companies or sectors, which can be manufactured by companies within the Metal-mechanical sector), as well as among these last ones: companies which would ultimately manufacture and market these components. Thanks to sectors such as the automotive one and its derivatives, the metal-mechanical industry as well as the aeronautical or the medical-dental sectors, have a good work rate, supported mainly by international projects. Is internationalisation no longer an option, but a necessity?