The research team will be housed in the Polytechnic City for Innovation complex, along with the leading institutes.  It starts with 14 on-going projects and forecast investments for 2013 amounting to one million Euros.

The Centre was inaugurated on December 13^{th, 2012} during a session held in the Blue Cube Auditorium of the Polytechnic City for Innovation complex and presided over by the Councillor for Economy, Industry, Trade and Employment, Máximo Buch; the rector of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Juan Juliá; the executive chairman of the Dominguis Group, José Dominguis, and its Managing Director, Héctor Dominguis.  Also participating in the session was the Director of the UPV Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications Institute (iTEAM) and Rey Jaime I prize-winner for New Technologies, José Capmany.

Prior to the official opening, the Counselor, the Rector, representatives from the various business organisations and clients, accompanied by Grupo Dominguis’ President and the CEO visited the new facilities of the Innovation Centre, where the research personnel provided in-depth information regarding the work carried out in the laboratories, the projects underway and the equipment in the showroom.

The new site measures 400 m² and includes  a chemical engineering laboratory, a robotics and industrial instrumentation laboratory and a project design and development laboratory.  It also includes an exhibition area highlighting several items of equipment and robots designed by Grupo Dominguis.  It has been inaugurated with 14 on-going projects relating to the energy sector (nuclear, thermal solar and wind energy) and the enhancement of special emergency and radiation protection equipment.  The investments foreseen for 2013 amount to one million Euros.

The Management of the Group considers the role played by Titania and its collaboration with the UPV to be of strategic importance for its growth and internationalisation.  “The efforts and investments that we are currently making in the area of R&D&i are absolutely necessary in order to maintain a high degree of competitiveness, especially in view of the important process of internationalisation in which we are involved”, said Héctor Dominguis.  He also believes that the location of the centre in the UPV scientific complex will allow the development objectives to be achieved in the coming years and that it will be “one of the building blocks for the creation of synergies between our R&D team and the UPV research groups and institutes”.  The rector of the UPV, Juan Julià, has also spoken in these terms, underlining the significance of the business venture with Titania, a spin-off in which this academic institution is participating.  In his intervention, Julià stressed the importance of  knowledge appreciation and the transfer of research results.  “There is a need for policies encouraging such transfers, because creating activity based on knowledge improves the competitiveness of companies”.

The Councillor for Economy, Industry, Trade and Employment, Máximo Buch, congratulated Grupo Dominguis for its 80 years of effort, during which time it has demonstrated its capacity to adapt, its entrepreneurial spirit and its forward-looking vision.  He stressed: “Grupo Dominguis is the type of company that this government is striving for: an innovative company with an international projection that has an important knock-on effect on other industrial sectors in our region”.

A story of three generations

Coinciding with the inauguration, attended by some 200 guests from the institutional, business and academic worlds, the Dominguis Group presented the book Grupo Dominguis. 80 años. Tres generaciones, published to celebrate the Group’s 80^th anniversary.  In its more than 200 pages, the book, written and directed by the journalist Francisco Pérez Puche, covers the story of a born entrepreneur, the experiences of the family in the business and the development of the Group.  It will be distributed exclusively among the Group’s clients, business representatives, authorities relevant to the company and employees.