BMW Officially Opens R&D Center for Local Innovation in Beijing

After being announced a few months ago, BMW finally took the metaphorical veils off its latest, brand new research and development center in Beijing. This new 17,000 sq. meters facility will be used by researchers for focusing, among other tasks, on requirement management, testing and validation as well as development of services and systems. The new space gives home for more than 200 employees – adding up to a total of more than 1,100 staff in the Chinese R&D network.

This new facility has an open office and innovative design, improving communication between R&D teams and providing inspiration for their creative work. As a part of BMW Group Strategy NUMBER ONE > NEXT, the center is a significant step in expanding local innovation, and taking the Group’s “In China, for China and the world” localization strategy one step further. Covering a total area of 70,000 m² across the three locations, the centers cultivate local talent, with the result, that more than two thirds of the R&D professionals are Chinese.

“For us, China is a driving force of innovation, a place of inspiration particularly in the field of electrification and digitalization – we think China is the lead market in these fields already today. This is why we began five years ago to set up a comprehensive R&D network in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang. And, we expect that the increase of our Chinese R&D activities and the collaboration with more and more top class Chinese tech companies will make a strong contribution to our global R&D outcome, especially in areas such as electro mobility and digitalization.” – stated Klaus Fröhlich, Member of the Board of Management BMW AG, Development, at the opening ceremony.

In 2018, BMW’s new R&D Center in Beijing will run more than 70 test vehicles across China, the testing mileage is planned for a historical high of 5 million kilometers. China has been in 2017 the largest market for the BMW Group globally. With the establishment of R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang, the Chinese R&D network is unique and by far the biggest presence of BMW R&D outside Germany.

The article BMW Officially Opens R&D Center for Local Innovation in Beijing appeared first on BMW BLOG

from BMW BLOG https://ift.tt/2KwF1jY