Continental on Wednesday inaugurated its new, INR 1,000 crore campus for its Technical Center India.
Spread over one million sq ft, the 14-storey new campus houses hi-tech software, hardware, and vehicle test facilities for R&D in addition to multiple training centres. With a deeper focus on innovation, Continental has also equipped each floor with multiple collaboration areas.
Inaugurated in the presence of Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister of Electronics, Information Technology – Biotechnology, Science and Technology, Higher Education, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, and Livelihood, Government of Karnataka, the new campus can house 6,500 employees. The current strength is 5,000 employees, confirmed Prashanth Doreswamy, President and CEO, Continental India, even as the company continues to hire aggressively for various domestic and global projects.
Deep Focus On Innovation
The € 33.8 billion Hannover, Germany-based company is one of the world’s leading investors in R&D, with close to 10% of its annual revenue being ploughed back into research, development and engineering each year. Doreswamy stated 42,000 engineers across the company is working towards building a future direction, and the company is investing € 2.6 billion in R&D for the mobility of tomorrow.
Continental’s Tech Center India undertakes R&D for all the business areas Continental focusses on – safety & motion, autonomous mobility, user experience, smart mobility, architecture & networking and software & central technologies.
Latha Chembrakalam, Head of Technical Center India, Continental Automotive the India centre is a global centre of excellence with global roles and product ownership. “We are an integral part of all business areas within the group,” she said, adding the centre contributes to new technology development and products, as well as help nurture innovation for products.
The Continental Tech Center India also acts as the Asia Application Hub servicing Asian OEMs in China, Japan and Korea. Moreover, it takes end-to-end project leadership, right from technical quotation to production.
The third critical aspect of the tech centre is it being a regional R&D centre for Continental India, servicing Indian OEMs. Chembrakalam said this regional centre is responsible for product development and application, and has over the years acquired all competencies and capabilities to deliver innovative and class-leading products and solutions to its customers.
Overall, Continental has made significant investments in India in the last few years, including greenfield manufacturing plants and the expansion of production lines for vehicle electronics for both passenger cars and two-wheelers, said Doreswamy.
“Technology and its multiplier effect drive business transformations, competitive advantages and newer customer experiences,” said Chembrakalam. She believes that with the evolution of software-defined vehicles, there will be further growth of safety and convenience features, newer in-vehicle experiences, and so on.
“TCI will continue to have a larger role to play in Continental’s efforts to define the future of mobility, and our engineers play a key role in placing India on the global automotive R&D map,” she added.
Notably, TCI is one of Continental’s largest and key R&D locations globally, catering to both global and local markets. Established in 2009, the centre has grown over the years, both in terms of people and competencies.
Notably, the new campus has received Platinum Certification from the India Green Building Council (IGBC) for creating “green lung spaces, renewable energy sources and rainwater harvesting”.
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