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Bridge to the future: Bosch headquarters in Paris now an innovation campus

Company underlines commitment to France

  • Total investment of 19 million euros
  • New building with 5,000 square meters of floor space
  • Focus on collaboration and creativity
Trix Boehne

Trix Boehne >

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Saint-Ouen, France – Bosch has reopened its French headquarters as an innovation campus at the existing location in Saint-Ouen. In doing so, the supplier of technology and services is underscoring its confidence in the future of the country. At the partially redesigned location on the northern edge of Paris, a bridge leads from the old building to a newly constructed main building that encourages greater knowledge sharing through large, open spaces. “As a result, we are also symbolically building a bridge between our 118-year tradition in France and our ambitions for the future in this country,” Bosch board of management member Uwe Raschke said at the opening ceremony for the new complex. “Especially in established markets in western Europe, Bosch is looking to inspire people with innovative products and solutions. By redesigning our French corporate headquarters, we have created the conditions for a freer, more interdisciplinary way of working – and therefore for more enthusiasm, creativity, and progress,” Raschke said.

Bosch has invested a total of 19 million euros in the new main building. Its roughly 5,000 square meters of floor space accommodate up to 300 of the location’s 1,300 associates, including administrative associates and developers from the subsidiary Bosch Engineering GmbH, who will be joined in the future by sales teams from BSH Hausgeräte GmbH. In addition to open exchange and creative zones, smaller focus rooms offer quiet spaces for individuals and groups to concentrate. A showroom allows the company to present its latest products and solutions. The designers also took environmental aspects into consideration: the new building consumes roughly 25 percent less energy than the current standards under French law. Following the opening of the new building, additional parts of the current complex in Saint Ouen are slated for remodeling by 2020 at the latest.

Bosch in France

Bosch manages its activities in France from the new regional headquarters. Since the start of the year, the location has also been responsible for the Benelux region. The company has had a presence in France since 1899 and opened its first manufacturing plant outside Germany in the country in 1905. With sales of around 3 billion euros, France – the third-largest market in Europe and the fifth-largest market worldwide – is of strategic importance to the company. Bosch employs around 7,700 associates in France, some 10 percent of whom are researchers and developers, and is the largest German employer in the country. The company has invested more than 350 million euros in France over the past six years (2011–2016), primarily in the development and advancement of its production sites. Bosch places a particular focus on Industry 4.0 solutions. One example is the ActiveGlass invented at the plant in Vénissieux. The smart glasses are used in the quality assurance of control components for off-highway vehicles such as excavators. They enable more precise control than in the past in about half the time.

About Bosch

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 428,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2023). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 91.6 billion euros in 2023. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 90,000 associates in research and development, of which roughly 48,000 are software engineers.

The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861–1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.” The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant upfront investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-four percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The remaining shares are held by Robert Bosch GmbH and by a corporation owned by the Bosch family. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com.

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