The ERI will be located in Leuven, Belgium, and headed up by Zhou Hong – who has been in charge of Huawei’s European R&D standardisation and technical cooperation activities since 2014 – with Walter Weigel, former director general of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, serving as vice president.
Leuven was selected due to its proximity to numerous EU institutions, and the ERI forms part of Huawei’s wider strategy to help Europe hit the targets of its Digital Agenda.
“Europe enjoys a favourable industrial environment, and is the global competence centre for Huawei. The ERI will manage Huawei's European research and innovation activities, and strengthen our cooperation with European industry and academia,” said Huawei Rotating CEO Guo Ping.
“As digitisation transforms every business into a digital business, Huawei is working with its partners to achieve a smooth transition towards 'Europe 4.0' – the digitised European Union of the future in which everyone and everything will be connected. Our aim is to help Europe achieve smart growth and build a better connected Europe.”
Huawei has increased its management numbers in Europe with several appointments in recent months, including former BP executive Lord Browne of Madingley, as well as a Vincent Pang as Western European president.
In August last year, Huawei opened an innovation centre in Germany, and later in October, the Chinese vendor announced plans to increase its procurement spending in the EU.
