Hewlett Packard (HP) Spain’s chief executive Santiago Cortés knows that the only way to improve a country’s track record in innovation is to create the right intellectual and business framework in order to incubate innovation; it is a long-range strategy that requires staying the course.
As president of the newly created non-governmental body Innovación España, Mr Cortés is overseeing collaboration between seven multinationals, which have all created centres of excellence in Spain.
Following the wisdom of the cluster theory, the ultimate aim of Innovación España is to promote R&D in Spain and encourage other multinationals to set up their R&D facilities there.
The companies of the foundation together invest $312.54m in R&D a year in Spain, contributing to the country’s competitive position for foreign investors and as a destination for high value-added investments. This is important because Spain cannot base its competitiveness on labour costs, instead it must offer the ability to generate ideas provided by R&D.
The R&D foundation, made up of HP, Alstom, ArcelorMittal, Hero, Sony, Ericsson and ThyssenKrupp Elevator, aims to share practical experience in the field of R&D with public administrations and other multinationals.
