Boeing Co. (Chicago, IL) announced the official opening of the new Boeing Research and Technology Center in Madrid, Spain, part of Boeing Phantom Works, which is the advanced research and development arm of the company.
The center, located near Madrid's Barajas International Airport, is already actively involved in a new research project, "Preliminary Design of the Control System of the Fuel Cell Electrically Powered Demonstrator," which is concerned with the development of fuel cells to replace gas turbine auxiliary power units in airplanes.
Directed and operated by Spanish nationals, the center is the first facility of its kind Boeing has opened outside the US, and will serve as a center of environmental, safety and reliability, and air-traffic-control technologies. It plans to work closely with industries, academia and other research centers in Spain and the rest of Europe.
