The ninth World Congress on Ceramic Tile Quality closed on 15 February, ending three intense days in which over 600 experts from 29 countries learned of the latest developments and most recent ideas across the entire spectrum of ceramic industry-related issues, leading to a fertile debate which, for many, is the most attractive and enriching feature of each new Qualicer event.

On 13, 14 and 15 February, Castellón again became the capital of ceramic quality thanks to Qualicer 2006. In the course of three days, meeting attendees were able to apprise themselves of the contents of a total of 126 presentations, meticulously selected by the broad-based, highly qualified Technical Committee chaired by Francisco Ortells. The studies were presented as invited lectures, oral communications and posters, and addressed the meeting's three theme blocks: ceramic enterprise and markets, ceramic tile and construction, and ceramic tile manufacture.

The architect from Singapore, Liu Thai Ker; Universitat Jaume I lecturer Gustavo Mallol; former Assopiastrelle president Sergio Sassi; renowned architect Bruno Ferraz, together with Jonás S. Medeiros, PhD in Construction Engineering, both of whom are Brazilian; French distributor Jean-Philippe Mutelet; American entrepreneur Donato Grosser; and ANFFECC president Carlos Gonzalvo, together with environment expert Manuel Irún, made up the list of Qualicer 2006 invited lecturers. This Qualicer meeting has particularly fostered panel debates as a way of encouraging dialogue between all the players - a feature distinguishing this singular event of global character - with debates focusing on distribution, tile adhesion, the relation between ceramics and architecture, the United States market and innovation.

Each Qualicer event seeks to drive the Castellón ceramic and tile manufacturing sector further along the pathway of innovation and quality design so that the sector will remain in the vanguard, enhancing its competitiveness daily, thus consolidating the biennial Qualicer event as one of the cornerstones on which the constant advance of the local ceramic industry is grounded.

'Qualicer 2006 has been a success in all respects; yet, even so, we know that everything can be improved upon, and this is what we intend to do', stated the president of the Castellón Chamber of Commerce and Congress co-president, Salvador Martí, who announced that the preparations for Qualicer 2008 have already begun, 'because we shall be celebrating the tenth edition and the first 18 years of the Congress'.

Martí, in agreement with the great majority of the participants, assured attendees that Qualicer's most important contribution to the industry is 'the dialogue that develops between speakers and delegates'. In this sense, the president of the Castellón College of Industrial Engineers and Congress co-president, Javier Rodríguez Zunzarren, defined Qualicer with the following phrase: 'Do we all face problems? Then let's get together to solve them.' Indeed, it was stressed that Qualicer does not defend a ceramic tile nationality, but the market qualities and possibilities of ceramics against any other type of industrial covering.

Qualicer has again demonstrated that it is a singular event, in view of its distinctive features, the only global forum in which the reality of ceramic tile is tackled from different angles by means of highly differing formats and the varying focus of every stakeholder in the sector', pointed out Salvador Martí in his speech, in which he reminded delegates that the present ceramic industry needs to compete in a globalised world and that, faced with this new challenge, the participants in Qualicer 2006 'pursue quality, understood as a synonym of innovation and excellence, because only with quality shall we be able to address the vicissitudes of a global market'.