The Mubil Hub will house a new cutting-edge Vicomtech space linked to smart mobility

The MUBIL Intelligent and Sustainable Mobility hub will house a new space in Eskuzaitzeta for Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) managed by the VICOMTECH technology center. The Governing Council has given the green light to an initiative that will allow the Pole, according to spokesperson Eider Mendoza, "to complete and reinforce its technological and research capacities in this field, one of the pillars of the new mobility". The space works will be financed 50% by the Diputación and VICOMTECH. For this, the Council has approved a subsidy of 2.92 million to finance the investments originated by the construction, the adequacy of technical installations and the acquisition of the necessary initial equipment for the construction of a new headquarters.

Mendoza has announced the decision in the appearance after the Governing Council this week. As she explained, the project will enhance the research and development activity carried out by VICOMTECH linked to transport / smart mobility through the creation of new facilities, which will allow synergies with MUBIL to be deepened. This is a key area to move towards a model of zero emissions and zero accidents, and in which VICOMTECH's activity has experienced great growth in recent years. The introduction of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) opens the door to a healthier, safer, more accessible, sustainable, profitable and balanced transport paradigm at the territorial level.

Mendoza stated that the incorporation of VICOMTECH constitutes "a new milestone in the deployment and consolidation of the ecosystem linked to the new mobility in Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country. The MUBIL Pole is an increasingly stronger project, and it is because it is a shared project, for which leading agents in the territory are betting, with a long history, and whose commitment and collaboration must be valued”. It should be remembered that in addition to the definitive headquarters of MUBIL, whose works began in July last year in Eskuzaitzeta with a budget of 14.2 million euros, the Pole will also house in its 48,000 m2 a new CIDETEC headquarters dedicated to the storage of energy, a building for sustainable mobility and energy transition managed by TECNALIA, and will promote an eco-design project for electric motors in collaboration with CEIT.

Added to the space that VICOMTECH will manage, all of this will mean a joint investment of more than 36 million euros, co-financed by the Provincial Council and the respective centers. “We are completing an ecosystem that will cover the different strategic knowledge areas in everything related to the new mobility, so we are going to have resources that will shield the competitiveness and positioning of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country in this area. MUBIL is going to support our entire industry and SMEs in their transformation towards a new mobility model, a crucial challenge in the face of climate change and the energy transition, and due to the weight of this sector in our industrial fabric. In addition to strengthening our economy and creating new opportunities for development and employment, it will allow us to use transport systems that are more efficient and sustainable for the public”, the spokesperson pointed out.

Mendoza has stressed the "ambition" and "international vocation" of the project, which "will allow us to play in the league of the most cutting-edge new mobility ecosystems in Europe." In this sense, it should be noted that the Provincial Council, MUBIL and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently signed a collaboration agreement for the creation of the 'City Science Lab Gipuzkoa', which will make the territory an innovation laboratory for the implementation mobility projects are underway, and which will mean its entry into the 'City Science Network', the exclusive collaborative network of cities around the world sponsored by MIT, which includes Shanghai, Helsinki, Toronto, Taipei, Hamburg, Guadalajara (Mexico), Andorra, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Concepción (Chile).