Motorola, the US semiconductor and electronics company, is to
build a £20 million software design centre alongside the Alba
campus in Livingston, near Edinburgh.
Already Scotland's biggest manufacturing employer, the company
intends to establish a 100,000 sq ft facility at the campus, and
create jobs for around 550 "highly skilled" software engineers over
the next five years.
According to Terry Heng, senior vice-president and general
manager of the Motorola Global Software Group, the new technology
centre will be used to develop advanced software for Motorola's
telecommunications products and semiconductor manufacturing
processes.
The Alba Centre campus was created three years ago by regional
development agency, Scottish Enterprise, to attract such
high-skills inward investment.
Its Institute for System Level Integration (ISLI) already offers
qualifications in systems design, and it is expected that Motorola
will work closely with the universities behind the programme to
tailor courses relevant to its new centre to attract graduates.
"The jobs created by this project will be very highly skilled.
Indeed, most of them will be filled by graduates and we look
forward to developing particularly close relationships with
Scotland's universities," confirms David Brown, chairman of
Motorola Ltd.
Motorola first came to Scotland in 1969 and employs 6,500 people
at its plants in East Kilbride, South Queensferry and Easter
Inch.