Three in six: AIC inaugurates third phase in six years

Three in six: AIC inaugurates third phase in six years

Latest phase includes integral automotive training center AIC Academy Also on the new €15 million, 8,000 square-meter site are the Gestamp GTI and Austrian multinational Megatech’s MTC | 09/03/2015

Amorebieta-Etxano, 9.3.2015. In front of a large audience made up of automotive industry professionals and related players, Bizkaia Provincial Council Chief Executive José Luis Bilbao today officially inaugurated a new phase of AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center, the third in six years.

The 8,000 square meter extension is above all devoted to training for the automotive industry, this being one of the most vitally important industrial sectors in the modern economy. The automotive industry is currently preparing to tackle major new challenges that will no doubt shape its immediate future.

Which is why one of the new arrivals is in fact the AIC Academy, a unique integral training center designed to satisfy the emerging needs of the automotive industry and anticipate its future requirements, by integrating a whole range of capabilities and professional profiles. One major feature of the Academy is that it is designed to cover a huge range of standard market-oriented activities, involving interdisciplinary training at all levels of knowledge and know-how.

As Council Executive Bilbao declared, “Phase 3 of AIC brings one cycle to an end while providing an excellent platform to host a range of activities run by local and international concerns.”

At its new facilities, AIC is also set to house the Gestamp Global Technology Training Center (GTI-Gestamp Technology Institute), together with its New Materials Knowledge Center. The GTI centralizes Gestamp’s training in new technologies on the global scale.

Austrian multinational Megatech, specializing in the development and production of interior and outer plastic components, systems and modules, is also going to locate its world R&D center (Megatech Tehnical Center-MTC) in the new AIC zone. Fitted with the latest prototype production and testing equipment, the Center employs a team of 70 highly qualified professionals.

For this latest phase of the AIC project, Bizkaia Provincial Council has financed an additional investment of 15 million euros.

With the additional phase, AIC now has 45,000 square meters given over exclusively to generating value for the automotive industry. It currently houses 27 organizations, from component manufacturers to technology centers, engineering firms and training centers, with a total workforce from the industry of some 650 professionals.

AIC was inaugurated in 2009 as a unique value generation center for the automotive industry, based on a concept of open innovation where companies improve their competitiveness through cooperation.

AIC’s second phase opened in 2010. This added new areas for businesses interested in this EU-acclaimed model, where partners locate their training, R&D, industrial development and/or new business units to work independently at their facilities, while being open to cooperating on projects of common interest in different areas.

In all, investment in AIC now amounts to €42 million in Phase 1 and €20 million in Phase 2, financed by Bizkaia Provincial Council and the European Union. The Amorebieta City Hall provided the project with 50,000 square meters of land.

Promoted by Bizkaia Provincial Council, Amorebieta-Etxamo and Ermua city halls, a group of cutting-edge automotive companies and Basque automotive cluster ACICAE, the AIC foundation provides a single umbrella for know-how, training, technology and industrial development initiatives designed to improve competitive levels in the automotive industry.

Gestamp is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of metal components and assemblies for major car makers. It specializes in developing products with innovative designs for safer and lighter cars to minimize energy consumption and environmental impact. Gestamp makes bodywork and chassis products and devices. The group has 93 factories in 20 countries, 12 R&D centers and a workforce of more than 32,000 the world over. Group billing for 2014 is expected to top the €6,200-million mark.

Megatech is an Austrian multinational specializing in the development and production of interior and exterior plastic components, systems and modules. In 2013 it billed over €147 million and currently employs 1,550 people. It has 6 production plants In Spain, Brazil and the Czech Republic.