The keys to AZTI’s policy for our organisation to be consistent with its vision and strategy and to support the strategic direction are as follows:

  1. Excellence in management: to comply with legislation and regulations, including environmental legislation and regulations, as well as with the requirements established in the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 27001, UNE 166.002, ISO 45001 and ISO/IEC 17025 standards, as permanent reference documents for our management system. Compliance with all these reference standards is our guarantee that the management system provides sufficient confidence to our customers that we are able to meet their requirements.
  2. Continuous improvement through clear identification of non-conformities and points for improvement, analysis and resolution of problems that arise in day-to-day work.
  3. Management by processes to eliminate inter-departmental barriers, facilitate the creation of work teams and improve the efficiency of the organisation.
  4. Availability of people with the appropriate training at each level and in each area of action. Incorporate awareness and knowledge of environmental aspects into ongoing staff training plans.
  5. Knowledge management through a continuous process to capture, share, always disseminate and use the necessary knowledge. To this end, the Management implements actions to:
    • Identify existing knowledge in AZTI and its people, recognise its value and promote its development as a fundamental tool for creating value.
    • Integrate the knowledge of all people and areas to provide the objective conditions to structure an “intelligent organisation” aimed at creating value through the development of its capacity for constant learning and innovation.
    • Align knowledge management (generation, capture and dissemination) with the competencies and requirements set out in AZTI’s strategy, embodied in its Technology Plan and the Strategic Plan itself.
    • To maximise the sharing of existing knowledge, providing the necessary resources to enable its development, its internal dissemination through training actions, and its efficient use. Emphasis will be placed on the creation and improvement of organisational connections (networks) as well as on team cohesion.
    • Consistent and sustained evaluation of intellectual capital over time to be able to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives carried out.
  6. Specialisation: only by deepening our specialisation will we be able to advance in knowledge and grow in the market, as the value we bring to our clients is directly proportional to our degree of specialisation. For this reason, the implementation of strategic research programmes guarantees us leadership in the market.
  7. Innovation to transform knowledge into processes, products and services that are satisfactory and profitable for us and our customers, based on the following fundamental principles:
    • To practice an “innovation culture” that permeates the entire organisation and develop motivating work environments that encourage and reward the generation of ideas and innovative practices by employees, accepting risk and recognising creative contributions.
    • Integrate innovation into all training content through specific courses and programmes to develop creativity skills.
    • Implement an innovation management process that allows the definition of AZTI’s Technological Plan and that is the driving tool for defining investment priorities, training in people’s target competencies, technological and market alliances.
    • Promote a technology watch and foresight system to identify opportunities and challenges for AZTI and detect innovation needs in processes or services, enabling it to anticipate technological changes in the market.
    • Encourage collaborations and alliances with stakeholders (not only interest groups) through links and forums that allow AZTI’s innovative capacity to be multiplied.
    • Disseminate the knowledge generated internally so that everyone is aware of the best practices applicable to its activity in the search for efficiency and effectiveness in all processes.
    • To protect the results of the innovation process, properly and ethically managing intellectual and industrial property.
    • Disseminate the innovation activity, making the return to society of part of the knowledge acquired compatible with the necessary reserve regarding the intellectual activity itself.
  8. Collaboration among ourselves and with other technology and research centres, suppliers, and customers.
  9. Market and customer orientation. Focusing R&D&I activities on the needs of the market so that their results can be used in the socio-economic environment in which our activity takes place.
  10. Internationalisation and benchmarking as a continuous reference for the search for “best practices” inside and outside our sector of activity to adapt and apply them in our organisation to be more competent.
  11. Business collaboration. Integrating tractor companies in European projects and those of other administrations, bringing emerging technologies closer to SMEs and carrying out an effective transmission of new technologies so that the company acquires mastery of the same.
  12. Exploitation of results: Dissemination of knowledge and technologies among the different agents in the system and to society to maximise efforts through scientific and technical publications, patents, and the creation of new technology-based companies.
  13. Environmental Protection: by integrating environmental criteria in decision-making processes, maintaining a continuous attitude of pollution prevention through the establishment and revision of environmental objectives and targets, and carrying out the necessary actions to reduce the use of energy, natural resources and waste production.
  14. The health and safety of people is as important as productivity, efficiency, quality, and environmental protection. It must be applied in all our actions and constantly monitored. Our policy focuses on training and informing all people, at all levels, to prevent accidents and to provide the organisation with the necessary means of protection to carry out each activity. It is everyone’s responsibility to themselves and to others to achieve “zero accidents”.
  15. Commitment to comply with applicable legislation and other agreements to which the organisation subscribes.

This policy is communicated to all staff through management meetings, the corporate intranet, and induction plans. The policy is reviewed annually during the Management System Review meeting.