The US multinational HP to create up to 80 new jobs in a new innovation and design center opened in Barcelona

The US technology multinational HP has opened a new innovation and design center in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) this Tuesday, a project set to generate up to 80 new job positions. Within these new facilities, referred to as La Masia, HP Experience Design Center, HP will be developing new digital products and services in the printing field.

For this initiative, the company received a 200,000-euro grant from ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment, the agency for business competitiveness under the Ministry of Business and Labour, as part of the High Impact Grants program.

The opening ceremony on Tuesday was attended by the Minister for Business and Labour, Roger Torrent; HP Iberia’s Managing Director, Inés Bermejo; HP Barcelona’s General Manager, Ramon Pastor; and the mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallès, Josep M. Vallès, among other authorities.

During his speech, Minister Torrent assured that “La Masia is a project of strategic value for the country because it will create 80 new quality jobs and because it has a great potential to help the business fabric to innovate and find new productive solutions". In his speech, the head of Business and Labour stressed that this project "strengthens the innovative ecosystem of our country, the attraction of talent and the attractiveness of Catalonia to host new projects".

With this new center, housed in a renovated 14th-century farmhouse, the multinational aims to optimize HP's printing and personal systems businesses while establishing an international design team. This team, tasked with designing and developing new digital experiences, will be made up of professionals with expertise in various fields, including UX Designers, Data Scientists, Product Managers, and Front-end Developers, among others.

During the opening, HP Iberia’s Managing Director, Inés Bermejo, affirmed that the new center, La Masia, will “allow for the creation of a unique space for innovation research and will set the foundations to optimize even more the solutions and services offered by HP”. This new center will be situated within the HP International Center located in Sant Cugat, with a current workforce of 2,500 employees, which has established itself as one of the firm’s most important headquarters internationally. Along these lines, Bermejo pointed out that the Catalan offices “are a key location for HP as regards the creation, development, and functioning of technology that makes people’s lives easier, and this new global innovation and design center takes that to a new level”.

The company stated that HP chose to establish its new innovation center in Catalonia due to the presence of international design talent and Barcelona’s power of attraction. Furthermore, Catalonia serves as one of the company's most prominent global hubs. Ramon Pastor, the General Manager of HP Barcelona, emphasized that "the refurbishment of an iconic space like La Masia builds a connection between the past and HP's current cutting-edge technology while ensuring that the Barcelona center continues to expand and solidify its position as a benchmark, both nationally and internationally".

Headquartered in California (United States) and founded in 1939, HP has a global presence spanning over 170 countries and employs nearly 60,000 people worldwide. It stands out as one of the world's leading companies in areas of personal computing, printing, 3D printing, hybrid work solutions, and gaming, among others. According to figures from ACCIÓ-Catalonia Trade & Investment, there are currently close to 1,200 subsidiaries of North American companies established in Catalonia.