Throughout history, the active and entrepreneur spirit, the craft and the art of the Portuguese people were responsible for the affirmation of Portugal before the world and also for the promotion of Science and Culture.

It was this same human potential that drove Portugal to be one of the pioneers of Commerce and Economy globalization and made the Portuguese Diaspora one of the most important instruments of cultural diffusion.

The challenges that we face today related with the economical globalization, the Digital Economy, the accelerated development of Life Sciences and the Information Society place new demands to the politicians. However they also generate new concerns among the businessmen as they force them to take new risks and to assume a new dimension of entrepreneurship.

Therefore, in the memory of past achievements, we wish to appeal to the entrepreneur spirit of all of those that, duly supported and guided to new challenges, will allow that a fresh generation of businessmen and scientists engrave the furrows of our future history, making that merit and initiative become socially appraised.

It was this same spirit that stimulated the Founder Ilídio Pinho to build a strong and sustained business group which his descendents would make last all over time.

Nevertheless, the making of that innovative business project would need a leading successor that, unfortunately, the limits of life have taken apart too soon. Yet, it remained the faith and the strength of an ideal that the transcendence of memory will help to continue such mission, because the Will persists to give shape to reality.

In the absence of the son that would carry on the sense of public utility that the father aimed to create through the established companies, other models have been used so that the dream will come true in the memory of who would have been the caretaker of the project.

Consequently to proceed with that business mission, the founder considered to perpetuate his roots and the memory of his son, Ilídio Pedro, with the creation of the Ilídio Pinho Foundation with an initial endowment of fifty million euros.

The model was believed to be the most fitted to achieve this mission and in this way secure the perpetuity of the spirit and values of its Founder.

Ilídio Pedro