Seat to invest 300 million euros in investigation, development and innovation

Martorell (ACN).- Seat will invest 300 million euros, around 6 to 7% of its profit, in investigation, development and innovation this year. It will be the third company in the Spanish state to invest in research. The president of the company, James Muir, claims that support from the administrations has made this possible. Such support aided in the development of Seat’s project ‘Forma 0’. Sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, 13 companies and 6 investigation groups have been working to develop new processes for high resistance steel manipulation for automobile manufacturing.

According to data from the European statistics organisation Eurostat, Seat is the 3rd company in the Spanish state to invest in research. But investments for the two top companies, such as Telefònica, make up 1% of their profit. Seat is investing from 6 to 7% of their total profit, assures Muir.

Muir stressed the role of public administrations in the field of research. “There is not an alternative to overcome the complicated current moment”, said Muir. He says that there must be “a continued support for investigation, development and innovation….giving support to our industry and especially to our investigation”. “We are taking firm steps to assure the sustainability of Spanish industry”, Muir added.

A project for lighter, safer cars

Seat’s ambitious project, ‘Forma 0’, has concluded after 4 years of research. 13 companies and 6 technological investigation centres came together with the goal of improving processes of steel manipulation for automobile manufacturing.

A total of 24.8 million euros were invested in the project, 11.6 million coming from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The project was managed by the Technological Centre of Manresa, along with the Manresa City Hall and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, among others. The investigation will result in lighter, safer cars that will be applied in models such as the Seat León. The company gave no further details on the project.