Indesit to open R&D centre in Poland

2010-03-10



Indesit, the Italian white goods manufacturer, is planning to invest €155m over the next five years in a research and development centre with sites in Italy and Poland, Parkiet has learnt. Last month the company applied to the European Investment Bank for funding of up to €75m to help finance the project.
The new centre is to conduct research into energy- and water saving solutions as well as into the use of recycled raw materials. At the moment, 55 R&D staff at Indesit’s four factories in Poland are working on these issues.
Poland spends a relatively small percentage of its gross domestic product on R&D (in 2008 the country's R&D expenditure amounted to 0.61% of GDP, compared with the EU27 average of 1.9%), and has so far attracted relatively few similar investments. However, there are some in the white goods sector already, one example being BSH Polska.