Europe Stays in the Loop

Virgin Hyperloop One will open a $500-million Advanced Technology Development and Testing Center in Spain, the company’s first European development facility. In return for this investment, Virgin Hyperloop One will receive 126 million euros in public aid through loans and grants to help establish the new center, advance its technology development and testing, and stimulate regional economic growth and job creation.

The Virgin Hyperloop One Advanced Technology Development and Testing Center will be located in the Andalusian region of Spain, which is known globally as an epicenter of transportation and aerospace innovation. The region is home to more than 9,000 transportation and logistics companies, the second-largest aerospace cluster in Spain, and 20,000 research and development employees.

Virgin Hyperloop One estimates it will hire between 200 and 300 high-tech skilled professionals and that the new center will spur job creation over a broad network of partners and suppliers in the region.

Plans call for the 19,000-square-meter center to open by 2020 to begin developing, testing, and certifying components and subsystems that continually improve the safety and reliability of hyperloop systems.

Elon Musk introduced the concept of hyperloop transportation—systems intended to move freight and/or passengers at ultra-fast speeds at a fraction of the cost of air travel—in 2013.