IT Informatik GmbH, from Baden-Württemberg, is to open its first company offices outside Germany in Barcelona
23 Oct 2016
• The company, with over 300 workers and specialised in industry 4.0 ICT Integration, will train a team of young Catalan professionals in Ulm (Germany) who will open the Barcelona office in 2018.
• The company announced the news this Tuesday during an international promotional act for Catalonia in front of 100 business professionals in the Lake Constance region (Germany) organised by ACCIÓ.
• IT Informatik GmbH received the support of Catalonia Trade & Investment, ACCIÓ’s foreign investment attraction agency.
Barcelona, October 24th, 2016.- The German company IT Informatik GmbH, specialised in developing ICT solutions in the industry 4.0 field, has announced it will train a team of young Catalan professionals so they can open the company’s first international office outside Germany in Barcelona. The company plans to train this four-person team – which has already been selected – over a 15-month period so they can open the Catalan office in 2018. The project received the support of the Catalan Government, through Catalonia Trade & Investment, the agency for foreign investment attraction of ACCIÓ.
The four young Catalans selected – with degrees in engineering, telecommunications and physics – are aged between 24 and 28. They are studying German in Barcelona until the end of this year, but in 2017 they will move to Ulm, located between Stuttgart and Munich, in Baden-Württemberg, home to the headquarters of IT Informatik GmbH – “to learn the corporate philosophy and absorb the company know-how through interaction with senior staff members”, as IT Informatik GmbH’s Head of International Expansion, Richard McCullough, explained.
The company took the decision to launch this training and mobility programme "to be more effective in the process of setting up in a new country." In fact, the company offices in Barcelona will perform "all the functions of an international office, starting with the market within the Iberian Peninsula and continuing its expansion into South America," says McCullough. Explaining the choice of Catalan capital as a place to locate this new office, he explains that "Barcelona is very dynamic in innovation and creativity, two factors in the field of ICT that are very important." He also adds, "It is a region with the perfect ecosystem in which set up a technology company”.
IT Informatik GmbH, which in addition to the headquarters in Ulm also has offices in Hamburg, currently has 300 employees. It is in the process of marketing a solution called OPRA, a SAP tool (PM/CS modules) that connects together all the information, processes, sensors, machines or working devices of a company allowing for their integrated management from a computer, mobile phone, through augmented reality or even via a smart watch. According to Richard McCullough, "it is the bridge for the correct implementation of industry 4.0." The company has customers in both the German industrial sector and international markets, serving companies such as LIEBHERR, Ratiopharm and Voith, as well as several airports.
The company’s top management made this announcement during an event organized by ACCIÓ this Tuesday on Lake Constance (Germany) to promote Catalonia as a destination for foreign investment. Under the name Katalanische Gespräche, the conference was attended by 100 German business professionals along with executives from the multinationals Nestlé, TÜV Rheinland and consultant NAE. The General Director of Industry, Nuria Betriu and the Catalan Government Delegate in Germany, Marie Kapretz presented the specific assets found in Catalonia that make it one of Europe’s leading regions in terms of foreign investment attraction.
