Philips to expand staff to 1300 in B'lore

BANGALORE: Philips has announced plans to expand the Philips Innovation Campus (PIC) located in Bangalore, India. The Philips Innovation Campus expects to double its current workforce of 1300 people by 2007.

An investment of US$50 million will be made in workplace infrastructure, over the next five years. From the last quarter of 2005, the PIC organization will gradually migrate to a new, sprawling 55,000 square meter state-of-the-art campus in Bangalore, states a company press release.

"As our Board of Management visit to the Campus last year symbolizes, India has become a major growth opportunity for us from both a consumer and technology point of view and this investment reflects our commitment to expanding our presence here," said Bob Hoekstra, Chief Executive Officer of Philips Innovation Campus. "

The PIC at Bangalore contributes over twenty per cent of the software content for our products worldwide and has established itself as a key center of excellence for the company," he added.

The PIC has emerged as a critical partner in the development of strategic and futuristic technologies for Philips worldwide. The innovation campus houses R&D activities under one roof in order to bring about synergy, cross-fertilization of ideas and sharing of best practices.

The Bangalore campus has eight divisions, each functioning as a technology or software competence centre: Consumer Electronics, Semiconductors, Medical Systems, Research, Philips Digital Systems Labs, Intellectual Property and Standards, as well as Business Process Services & Software. The expansion of the PIC at Bangalore will increase its contribution across all Philips' business divisions like Consumer Electronics, Semiconductors, and Medical Systems especially since products from these divisions have a significant software component. Significant contributions will be made to healthcare, lifestyle and technology domains.

PIC was rated No.5 "amongst the best IT employers in India for 2004" by Dataquest magazine.