On April 22, BMW Group Korea officially inaugurated the ‘BMW Group R&D Center Korea’ in Cheongna, Incheon.
The BMW Group R&D Center Korea, which first opened in 2015 within the Incheon BMW Driving Center, is a research and development facility established by the BMW Group in Korea.
The newly relocated BMW Group R&D Center Korea was established in accordance with the expansion plans introduced by key executives from BMW Group headquarters during their visit to Korea in 2019.
To achieve this, BMW Group Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Incheon City and the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (IFEZ) in December 2021 for the construction of a new BMW R&D center, and after breaking ground in April 2023 at the Incheon Hi-Tech Park, the facility was officially completed in March 2024, approximately 11 months later.
The opening ceremony of the BMW Group R&D Center Korea on April 22 was attended by Jochen Goller, BMW Group Vice President Customer, Brand and Sales; Jean-Philippe Parain, Senior Vice President for Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa; and Daniel Böttger, Senior Vice President for Vehicle Development.
Jochen Goller expressed his happiness at being present at the inauguration, stating, “I am very pleased to be part of the inauguration of the newly opened ‘BMW Group R&D Center Korea’ and I expect this facility will play a more valuable role in the future. Given that Korea was the fifth largest market for the Group last year, BMW Group will continue to invest to provide better products and services to Korean customers.”
Daniel Böttger also emphasized, “The BMW Group R&D Center Korea will contribute to enhancing products and services provided to domestic customers, developing future technologies, and actively supporting cooperation with BMW Group and Korean partners, as well as the overseas expansion of domestic venture technologies.”
The newly expanded BMW Group R&D Center Korea features a one-story building with a total area of 5,296m2 and a gross floor area of 2,813m2, including office spaces, maintenance and testing rooms, certification laboratories, an electric vehicle charging station testing room, and research laboratories. The test labs are equipped with the latest facilities for vehicle certification and technology validation.
The BMW Group R&D Center Korea, now fully operational, will host about 50 staff members who will support the certification and product development of vehicles imported into Korea, while also collaborating with domestic companies, research facilities, and universities to develop navigation systems, voice recognition, and UI prototypes.
Korea is a significant market for the BMW Group, and the R&D Center Korea will be actively utilized for certification purposes aimed at presenting optimized vehicles. Initially, a variety of tests will be conducted to ensure compliance with local regulations before the domestic launch, and plans are underway to conduct in-house certification tests at this facility within the next 3-4 years.
In addition, product development activities will be conducted here. This will involve research activities to better understand the demands of local consumers and cooperation with design and engineering departments at the German headquarters to achieve higher levels of localization in navigation, language, voice recognition, UI, connectivity, charging, and driver assistance systems.
Before prototypes are introduced to the domestic market, an operational and maintenance system along with testing procedures will be established to strengthen performance, quality, and compliance through intensive testing. Furthermore, efforts will be made to solidify cooperative frameworks for product development with local suppliers.
The new BMW Group R&D Center Korea will house a ‘BMW Technology Office’ responsible for ideation related to new vehicles or technologies, experiential innovations, and collaboration with partners in Korea. The Korean BMW Technology Office, affiliated with the BMW Group Technology Office Asia-Pacific, will focus on prototyping and enabling new technologies the BMW way.
The ‘BMW Startup Garage’ will also take residence at the BMW Group R&D Center Korea. Through this initiative, the BMW Group supports tech-related startups aiming to advance automotive technology or create market opportunities, with operations currently spanning across six countries including Germany, the USA, China, Israel, Japan, and Korea.
BMW Group Korea has already introduced many domestic companies related to automotive components, including those involved in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, new materials, and manufacturing process technologies to the BMW Group headquarters.
In 2023 alone, BMW Group purchased parts from Korean partners worth approximately 6.535 trillion KRW, with the cumulative purchases from 2010 to last year reaching around 30.78 trillion KRW. BMW Group continues to act as a bridge for Korean companies to enter the global market through sustained technological partnerships and is poised to enhance new forms of social contribution and domestic investment.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr