AIC inaugurates 10,700-square-meter second phase with 100% capacity occupied

AIC inaugurates 10,700-square-meter second phase with 100% capacity occupied

9 new R&D units arrive with 150 additional jobs | 29/04/2010

Vizcaya Provincial Council chief executive José Luis Bilbao this morning officially inaugurated the 10,700-square-metre second phase of AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center. The inauguration attracted a large group of professionals from the automotive industry and other associated players.

In Phase 2 the Central building has been enlarged by 4,800 square meters and a newly constructed 5,900-square-metre building is to house new R&D and innovation units and 150 technicians. Vizcaya Provincial Council put up the €20 million needed to finance the initiative.

Bilbao said that, despite the crisis, the automotive center had exceeded expectations and was inaugurating the second phase with all the available space already taken, which showed “just how appropriate the initiative was” and highlighted “the drive and dynamism of our businesses.”

AIC is unique worldwide in the way it integrates value added activities in a single area. The center’s mission is to promote cooperation between automotive businesses installed there to make them more competitive. Among other things, AIC welcomes company training, research and/or industrial development units to its facilities.

To date, 22 organizations have applied to join, including foreign multinationals, local groups, cooperatives and family businesses, as well as research centers, training centers and engineering firms. Some 250 people now work there

AIC is a value generation center with cutting-edge infrastructures at the Boroa industrial estate (Amorebieta-Etxano) and Ermua. The central building and R&D and innovation units take up 26,700 square meters, and a further 10,500 square meters are devoted to industrial development units. Both phases of the AIC initiative were completed in a record time of less than three years.

The first phase of AIC cost €42 million and phase 2 has cost €20 million, money put up by the Vizcaya Provincial Council and the European Union. The Amorebieta-Etxano city hall made 50,000 square meters of land available for the initiative.

New R&D units arriving in Phase 2 come from, among others, Gestamp, Inauxa, Cromoduro, Grupo ACE, Maier, PMG, Tecnalia, Azterlan and Ingeinnova.