The software company Symbio will establish, together with DENSO, one of the leading automotive component manufacturers, a joint innovation centre in Finland. The innovation centre will be based in Symbio’s premises in Espoo, Finland.
“The automotive industry is facing major disruption. Electric cars, self-driving vehicles and new digital services for driving and maintenance are changing both the intelligence in the car and its components. We announced some time ago that Symbio will open a new subsidiary in Germany especially for our automotive clients’ needs. Besides Espoo, this provides additional opportunity for developing our new partnership with DENSO with our German subsidiary,” says Arto Kuusinen Chief Executive – Europe, Symbio.
The letter of intent for establishing the joint innovation centre with DENSO was signed on October 24th 2017, and activities will start already this year.
Europe is a clear growth area for Symbio. The aim of the joint innovation centre is to combine DENSO’s leading automotive technology know-how with Symbio’s special knowledge about consumer products under one roof.
“We are now exploring beyond the vehicle “shell” to create new value for the future new mobility society and users, and we are very excited about the potential opportunities provided by our joint innovation centre with Symbio,” said Kazuoki Matsugatani, Executive Director DENSO Corporation. “Our goal is to develop solutions that strive to enrich the user experience for connected mobility that is sustainable, comfortable and convenient for everyone.”
Utilising Design Thinking methodology, Symbio and DENSO will build new concepts and solutions for DENSO’s clients. In the innovation centre Symbio and DENSO employees will work side-by-side. Symbio will especially hire concept designers and software architects for the new innovation centre. Through rapid prototyping, Symbio and DENSO aim to build profitable solutions quickly for the new automotive mobility industry.
“It is great that Symbio reaches this strategic position with a major automotive component manufacturer and allows us to be a significant part of developing the automotive ecosystem. The joint innovation centre is in the heart of developing new revenue streams,” says Kuusinen.
