Dyson commits £1.5bn in global invention quest
Inventor James Dyson has today announced that his eponymous company, known for its revolutionary versions of household objects from electric fans to vacuum cleaners, is making a £1.5bn investment in future technology, at home and abroad. Dyson aims to launch 100 new products worldwide in the next four years.
The financial commitment includes a £1bn R&D investment, a £250m campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, a £50m investment in British universities and a £200m manufacturing expansion in south east Asia. The company plans to create four new portfolios of technology.
Work has already begun on the first phase of the Malmesbury campus expansion, a project that will create up to 3,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the manufacturing firm has started recruiting for new engineers, with 300 roles currently unfilled.
In Asia, four additional production lines have been built at Dyson’s motor manufacturing facility in Singapore. According to the company, this will increase motor manufacturing capacity to 11m a year.
Company founder and chairman Dyson said: “Our growth is fuelled by technology, and we are thinking long-term, 90 per cent of our technology is sold abroad, we’re quickly growing across Asia, and it’s phenomenal to think that we are now number one in the home of technology – Japan.
“It is like selling coal to Newcastle. But we must relentlessly invent – that’s why we are investing in our research footprint here in the UK and investing in our manufacturing capabilities in south east Asia.”