The Asturian company KPS has celebrated its alliance with the Mastech group in an act attended by the Regional Minister for Employment, Industry and Tourism.

The company’s staff base comprises around fifty people, a production division covering 3,500 square metres, and a five-year production forecast of 250,000 devices each year.

The newspaper La Nueva España has published an interview with Jackie Ip, CEO of the Mastech group, in which the Asian businessman claims to be proud of the new project that will be taken on by his group and KPS.

“I am truly excited about this new project because I think we are doing something that no one has done before, especially in Asia”.

KPS Euman’s creation opens its doors to Mastech and allows it to enter the European and American market. “It will be a key point for introducing our company into the Spanish and European market, and we think that we could lay foundations in developed American countries”.

Jackie Ip’s expectations for the new company are very positive. In a time frame of five years, he hopes the company will turnover around 15 million euros – this figure is currently at 7 million – selling products on a world level. Aware that the Asian and European cultures are different, he proposes a global business strategy in which the specific way of working in each local group is respected. The GdP Legal office, with headquarters in Asturias, has commercially coordinated the business operation, right from its origins through to achieving a successful end to the operation.

Finally, he expresses his best wishes for the KPS factory: “We hope that by the end of this year, production will be taking place with the same speed and efficiency as in our Asian factories”.

Source: La Nueva España

THE ICT AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN ASTURIAS

The Asturian industrial fabric has undergone a radical transformation in recent years, in which advanced services have moved into the spotlight.
In this new economic reality, the information and communication
technology sector (ICT) deserves a special mention.

Asturias welcomes Spanish and foreign companies alike, which have
moved to the region, in particular over the last decade, playing a
significant role in employment in the sector.

download PDF

characteristics of the sector

Excellent regional telecommunications infrastructures.

Broadband Internet access across the entire region.

Asturias presents higher than national average values in the field of digital citizenship.

Clear involvement of the regional Government in developing the sector.

Well-established cooperation initiatives such as the ICT Cluster and the InnovativeKnowledge Business Association.

Internationally outstanding R&D institutions and centres, such as the Information and Communications Technology Centre, CTIC, which also home to the headquarters in Spain and Latin America of the W3C consortium (World Wide Web), the most important international body in the field of Internet Regulation.

In Asturias, 97.89 % of companies have computers and 80.66 % have access to the internet and a website (INE 2015).

Asturias sits in 7th position nationally in terms of housing that has a broadband connection (ADSL, Cable network, etc.), with 78.7 % of households compared to the national figure of 77.8 % (INE 2015).

EVOLUTION OF THE NUMBER OF COMPANIES IN THE ICT SECTOR

In 2015 in Asturias, 863 companies belonged to the ICT sector, whose main activities were linked to the development, production and intensive use of information and communication technologies.

ICT SECTOR COMPANY IN TERMS OF ACTIVITY DEVELOPED IN ASTURIAS

Of those 863 companies that formed the Asturian ICT sector, 53.85 % of them fell within Programming, consulting and other IT related activities, with 18.54 % being companies whose activity was linked to repairing computers and activities connected to data processing, hosting and related activities; web portals represented 9.85 %.

education

The University of Oviedo offers new degrees adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) with qualifications that cover most fields of knowledge. Some 30 % of its over 22,000 registered students are following technical degree courses.

The following qualifications from the University of Oviedo related to the ICT sector are outstanding:

Master’s Degree in Web Engineering
Master’s Degree in Automation Engineering and Industrial Computing
Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering University
Master’s Degree in Telecommunications Engineering
Master’s Degree in Materials Science and Technology

Accredited Vocation Training, with 17,000 registered students, more than the 35 % following technical degrees, completes the technical qualification of the Asturian workforce, combining theoretical training with work experience undertaken in companies.

innovation & technology

technology centres, r&d&i institutions and clusters

CTIC INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY CENTRE

CTIC is the main locomotive agent for ICT-related services in Asturias. A benchmark Technology Centre which implements its activity on a regional, national and international scale, it actively contributes to social innovation, establishing collaboration with the public sector (administrations, governments, research bodies, universities, etc.) and the private sector alike.

ICT CLUSTER

This Cluster brings together around 50 companies that represent approximately 2,500 jobs with the objective of collaborating in projects that allow them to become established as a sector with regional identity. The Cluster is particularly active in the international promotion of its companies and in the co-design of projects.

AEI. INNOVATIVE KNOWLEDGE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

Created to promote technological development, innovation and applied research in the Knowledge Society sector, it brings together 32 companies from knowledge-related sectors (mainly the ICT sector and similar), and two entities belonging to the Asturias company and innovation system (ICT Cluster and the Information and Communications Technology Centre, CTIC.

Did you know that the Asturian Technology Centre CTIC has been chosen by the European Commission for the technical development of Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO)?

creative industries

Graphic design, advertising and the audio-visual sector in Asturias are the heaviest weighing activities within the creative sector.

Graphic design

With a deep-seated tradition in Asturias, is supported by the prestigious Higher Arts School of the Principality of Asturias and the Oviedo Arts School, in the Asturian Association of Graphic Designers (AGA), and the recognition from the MOTIVA awards, which position graphic design as both valuable and essential.

The Audio-visual Cluster of Asturias

Aims to promote the development and globalisation of the sector, grouped within the Association of Audio-visual Production Companies of the Principality of Asturias; for their part, the Asturias Film Commission takes advantage of the numerous aesthetic and natural resources of Asturias, an enclave which is already outstanding as a filming location for national and international productions.

The advertising sector

Which has undergone considerablegrowth in recent years, is grouped within the Advertising Companies Association of the Principality of Asturias(ADAPPA).

The video gaming sector stands out as the link between the Creative sector and ICT.

Asturias has a specific acceleration programme for entrepreneurs entitled Let’s Game, backed by CEEI Asturias.

To mention but a few of the competencies: the Meeting of Professionals from the Electronic Entertainment Industry GAMELAB, the European Project Boo-games, with participation by CEEI Asturias, and the Expert’s Degree in Serious Games from the University of Oviedo about videogames applied to the industrial and healthcare sectors.

unique infrastructures

Not only does Asturias have varied and quality cultural backing, but it also has
unique spaces, which either recovered from the past or projected into the future,uphold its unbreakable commitment towards creation and all its forms.

SPANISH OFFICE OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM (W3C)

Since 2003, the CTIC has welcomed the Spanish Office of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the most important international organisation in terms of internet regulation. The W3C is an international organisation which develops technology to guide the Web towards its maximum potential, via the creation of regulations which ensure the future growth of the web.

LABORAL ART AND INDUSTRIAL CREATION CENTRE

A clear sign of its commitment to the region’s ICT sector and creative industries, is the Laboral Art and Industrial Creation Centre, with sponsor private companies. Promoted by the government of the Principality of Asturias to strengthen the technology culture, it is a cross-sectorial institution which produces, circulates and promotes access to new cultural forms that have emerged from the creative.

LABORAL CITY OF CULTURE

Constructed in the 20th Century, it is the largest architectural work in Spain (270,000m2). A multi-use open space, it combines institution and headquarters and companies with all types of entertainment and leisure activities.
Principality of Asturias Broadcasting Corporation, the College of Dramatic Art and Professional Dance the University College of Business, Tourism and Social Sciences “Jovellanos” and the R&D Centre of the German multinational Thyssenkrupp all have their headquarters in the Laboral City of Culture.

succes stories

CAPGEMINI

France

The determining factors for basing its facilities in the Valnalón Industrial City (Langreo) were the installation costs and the availability of highly-qualified local HR.

The company currently employs over 1000 workers whose activity is
based around the development of software and system management,
offering consulting and application management services.

DXC TECHNOLOGY

USA

A US multinational located in the Principality of Asturias Business Park
(Aviles). It offers employment to over 1100 people and more than 85 % of
the work undertaken targets foreign clients. It is a technological provider
of corporate solutions and services: managing business processes, outsourcing information systems, integrating systems and consulting services.

SOFTWARE AG

Germany

In 2003, the German multinational, which currently employs 35 highly-specialised professional, gave particular value to the availability of qualified personnel, as well as to existing infrastructures for their installation in the Principality of Asturias Business Park (Aviles).

Its business lines are high performance BD Transnational, B2B and SOA integration platform, Business processes analysis and design platform and Big Data and Streaming Analytics Platform.

The Food and Drink sector in Asturias

Energy

ICT and Creative Industries

METAL AND ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

TIC

The Asturian industrial network has undergone a major transformation and advanced services are taking on a greater role