Business Factory Auto (BFAuto) is an ambitious initiative that was created in 2016, promoted by the Regional Government of Galicia with the Consorcio de la Zona Franca de Vigo, the Stellantis group and Ceaga. Its objective is to promote the acceleration and consolidation of specialised automotive projects in order to transform them into innovative companies that fill gaps in the value chain and strengthen the sector in Galicia, as well as boost its international reach.

With the vision of becoming a benchmark in the promotion of innovation in the automotive sector, the role of BFAuto is deployed in three strategic axes focused on fostering an entrepreneurial culture, developing an open innovation ecosystem and promoting the competitiveness of the business fabric.

Therefore, it has the leadership of the industry and the support of the main agents of the Galician ecosystem and is being developed in two phases: the acceleration programme for startups and the consolidation programme for existing companies.

64 new companies

Throughout the six editions of BFAuto, 64 new companies have been created, of which 24% already export their products or services and have created more than 550 jobs in Galicia and a turnover of 90 million euros. Thanks to the good results obtained, BFAuto has served as an example for other sectors that have already replicated the initiative.

The key to the Business Factory Auto is the involvement of the Galician automotive sector. From the outset, the initiative was strongly supported by Stellantis, and today many companies in the sector are already involved (BorgWarner, Denso, GKN Driveline, Unimate Robótica, Galicia AutoEstampación, Snop, TI Fluid Systems, etc.).

In each call for proposals, the industry itself defines its needs, on the basis of which the participating projects are selected. Companies in the sector oversee and provide support to projects to promote their development and increase their competitiveness. In addition, they provide access to their plants to develop pilots and test their innovative solutions.

This is how the new companies created under the accelerator become suppliers to companies in the automotive sector. This collaborative ecosystem facilitates the generation of R&D projects between startups, SMEs and large companies.

This initiative has generated talent and innovation in Galicia, especially in the 4.0 field: sensorics, cobotics, 3D printing, robotics, etc. Notably, gaps have been filled in the sector's value chain, mainly related to digitalisation or Industry 4.0 (artificial vision or Internet of Things, among others) and has contributed to the creation of more than 550 skilled jobs, mainly in the technological field. In terms of turnover, the companies belonging to the BFAuto initiative are expected to close the year 2022 with more than 90 million euros in revenue.