Amazon unveils Barcelona R&D office

The office that internet retailer Amazon has set up in the 22@ business district in Barcelona is now operational. In fact, the first staff members taken on for the R&D centre focusing on machine learning were all taken on a few weeks ago.

In April, the company opened the office to provide support for SMEs in France, Italy and Spain, employing some 240 people. However, the office now also include a new centre to develop artificial intelligence, which takes the staff numbers to around 300.

The company estimates that staff numbers in the Barcelona office could rise as high as 500 employees in the next few years, which explains why the 10,000 square meter premises on carrer Tànger 76 are still not full.

At the public presentation of the office on Wednesday, Amazon executives justified the choice of Barcelona for the office, describing the Catalan capital as the “ideal city” to set up a technological centre.