Vodafone puts €1m into centre for product innovation

Vodafone is to invest more than €1 million and create 25 jobs in a new centre in the Republic that will play a key role in bringing new products and services to the market.

Vodafone Ireland yesterday announced that its multinational parent has chosen its headquarters as the location of one of a number of centres that will support product innovation within the group.

The company's chief executive, Teresa Elder, would not put an exact figure on the investment involved, but said it was "open-ended" above €1 million, depending on a number of factors.

In a statement, the company said the centre would create 25 new jobs.

The centre of excellence will be housed in Vodafone's headquarters in Sandyford industrial estate in Dublin.

It will focus on developing new products and services in personalisation and storage.

According to Jennifer Howe, the Vodafone Ireland executive who will head up the new division, personalisation involves tailoring products and services to customers' needs and demands.

Storage will involve developing systems that will allow customers to keep information such as stored numbers, texts, pictures and other data when they switch phones, or lose or damage their handsets.

According to Ms Howe, the centre will form part of the Vodafone group's future products unit. There will be five other similar divisions throughout the company's European businesses. These will focus on other areas, including communications, entertainment, and commercial and business services.

The future products unit operates by forming partnerships with smaller specialist companies with the basic ideas or products. It then develops the most saleable of these in tandem with its partners. "We are looking for ideas and they can be at an early stage," Ms Howe said.

Ms Elder pointed out that the company had already formed successful partnerships with Irish companies, including Changing Worlds, which now provides services to over 30 mobile operators, including Vodafone. "When they came to us, they employed just four people - now they have 70," Ms Elder said.

IDA Ireland is supporting the centre. It is understood that it has not given it any financial support at this stage, but it is not ruling out giving such aid in the future.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, officially opened the centre yesterday.