Malaga has won an international competition to which seven cities from five countries and will host the Vodafone European R&D Center of Excellence. An installation that will generate, according to the operator’s data, more than 600 jobs, including many highly qualified ones.
This center comes after Google decided to open there a space dedicated to cybersecurity research and Globant did the same with one of Artificial Intelligence.
This new European center will be dedicated to research and development of technological solutions and digital services new generation, such as 5G or IoT.
Why Malaga has been chosen
According to Vodafone, between January and March it held a contest to choose the location of this new center.
Seven cities from five European countries participated in this call. All of them had to answer different questions about the city lifestyle, talent availability with the necessary technical knowledge and working conditions as well as other issues related to transportation, public aid and bonuses, connections with universities or the attractiveness of each site for talent.
When making its decision, Vodafone ensures that it has not only carried out an analysis of the cities, but also It has also tapped the opinion of international companies that are already present in each of the cities that chose to host the center.
Finally, Vodafone has selected Malaga as the host of its Hub. The Andalusian city was the one that stood out in the competition for being the one offers the best combination of all selection criteria, according to the operator.
Vodafone has not provided figures for the amount of the investment which will mean the creation of this center, whose location is currently being decided.
Tractor project
The operator hopes that this European Vodafone Business Center will allow Malaga generate highly qualified employment, in addition to enhancing its economic activity and its digital ecosystem. An ecosystem to which companies like VirusTotal or Freepik belong.
“The Vodafone Hub will help Spain and the city of Malaga continue to be a national and international benchmark in attracting and promoting business projects and in the creation of products and services based on innovation and new technologies,” says the CEO of Vodafone Spain, Colman Deegan.
