Nov 10, 2015 | By Kira
U.S tech giant Hewlett Packard announced on Friday that it has opened an R&D centre in León, Spain, which, in collaboration with their global headquarters in Greater Barcelona, will lead the fourth industrial revolution by driving innovation in 3D and even 4D printing technology. The center has already created 50 high-skill jobs, with 13 positions still open, and plans to create a total of one hundred new jobs within the next two years.
HP León Plant manager Miguel Angel Turrado / PEIO GARCIA
The news follows HP’s announcement earlier this year that it would split into two new companies: HP Enterprise and HP Inc., with a key division of HP Inc. focusing exclusively on 3D printing technology. Last year, the Spanish government approved a total of €21.25 million to fund HP’s world headquarters in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Greater Barcelona, to develop 3D printing specifically.
The addition of the León Centre for Competence seeks to expand the company’s reach in global 3D printing solutions, and particularly in the innovative new space of 4D printing—the creation of microfluidic materials to develop 3D printed objects with electrically conductive properties.
“This initiative will allow León to write the first pages of the fourth industrial revolution,” said plant manager Miguel Angel Turrado. He further emphasized that HP’s presence in León has made the city an ICT pole within Spain, attracting some of the most talented engineers from within the country and beyond. The company now has a workforce of 300 skilled employees, and plans to hire 20 to 30 new workers each year until 2017. “[HP Solutions] was born in the spirit of a startup, an entrepreneur, but with the muscle and experience of a multinational with 76 years of history and a turnover of 50 billion dollars.”
HP's world headquarters in Sant Cugat del Valles is the company's largest office outside of the U.S.
Over the past few years, HP has been making major inroads into the world of 3D printing, with its first 3D printer product line, based on their own Multi Jet Fusion Technology, set to launch in 2016. In addition, HP has slowly been forming partnerships across the industry, linking itself to big names such as Autodesk and Shapeways, and joining the 3MF Consortium early-on. The expansion of their R&D center in León is sure not only to boost development and promote employment within the region’s capital, but to further their reach in the burgeoning yet relatively unexplored field of 4D printing technology.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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