The Center continues to grow and in November the team will enter new offices in another building on the territory of Sofia Tech Park Bosch Engineering Center Sofia plans to increase its staff to over 450 associates by the end of 2021. The Center expands the areas of its activities and strengthens its key role in new projectsIt has priority on creating inspiring working conditions and invests in building of talents in the field of automotive engineering with a focus on software
Two years after its official inauguration, the Engineering Center Sofia, established by Bosch, has tripled in size and opened a new second office, located on two floors in the newly built Synergy Tower of Sofia Tech Park.
The Center adds 17 meeting rooms, 12 focus halls and 8 specialized bench rooms to the office space, and in unison with the policy to provide an inspiring work environment, it offers to the associates gaming halls with table tennis and football, billiards and relaxation zones. The new office is located in an area of nearly 5500 sq. m. The building is constructed according to the latest environmental, technical and energy saving standards.
Over the past year, Bosch Engineering Center Sofia has established its position in the development of many innovative projects and technologies for the automotive industry in areas such as driver assistance systems, automated driving, artificial intelligence and electric mobility. The experts are responsible for the development and testing of more and more functionalities and confirm their good collaboration with the company’s development teams in other Bosch locations around the world.
The aim of the Center is to become a hub, developing complete products, and the logical step to achieve this is to create departments for hardware and mechanical design, in addition to the well-established system and software areas. Konstantin Konov, Managing Director, commented:
„We started in 2019 with smaller projects and currently we are developing complete products. Our team grows with each passing year, our expertise – too. Our goal is to take on more and more responsibility and work in areas of greater applicability, while actively seeking new opportunities.”
Photo Credits: Bosch
Developments for the Future
In the field of the automotive industry, the mission of Bosch Engineering Center Sofia is to ensure safe driving, with care for the environment and the society. There are three main areas in which the specialists invest their efforts and expertise – technologies for driving assistance; vehicle electrification; and connectivity solutions, displays, instrument clusters and cameras that monitor the behavior of the driver and other occupants of the vehicle.
At the beginning of 2021, Bosch brought together globally more than 17,000 engineering experts for developing computers, sensors and control units for all automotive systems into the new division Cross-Domain Computing Solutions. The newly founded unit chose Bosch Engineering Center Sofia as a main partner to shape the future of mobility around the world.
One of the newest assignments for the experts from Bosch Engineering Center Sofia is the work on completely new products on a conceptual level and in a pilot project phase on the so-called zone automotive electronic control units. Their application will allow them to move to a smaller number, but significantly more complex computers with many functionalities. For example, there are currently about 50 computers in a middle-class car responsible for various functions, and with the zonal computers there will be a total of 3-4 to perform all the tasks. These will be devices with quite powerful hardware and several operating systems running on the device simultaneously and independently of each other.
Photo Credits: Bosch
The Engineering Center in Sofia is a strategic partner of the Bosch eBike Systems division. With their expertise, the teams in Sofia demonstrate how can be increased the quality of the development and implementation of new technologies. The Center has activities linked to the creation of each component of the eBikes, starting from the charger and the battery, through the drivetrain, the steering and the display. The contribution of the software engineers to infrastructure solutions and services in the cloud space is significant, as well as to the eBikes connection to the Internet. With care for employee’s development and support for young talents
The Center continues to extend and hire new professionals and by the end of this year their number will increase to over 450. The company demonstrates responsibility and good practices as an employer, offering long-term employmentand education, as well as support in the professional development of its associates.
Bosch ECS Career Camp – the first academy of the Training Center for Software Engineers – was recently launched. The program will provide opportunities to acquire in-depth knowledge and working skills with the latest software technologies for the automotive industry under the mentorship of proven professionals in the field of software development and testing for the automotive industry. The participation in the Bosch ECS Career Camp is free and opens up new career opportunities for all the participants.
Photo Credits: Bosch
The investments in education and development of young talents in the IT field are among the main priorities of Bosch Engineering Center Sofia. Dual training, internship programs, and work with universities are good long-term practices of the Center.
Responsibility to the society
Bosch Engineering Center Sofia supports the educational foundation “Teach for Bulgaria”. This year the Center provided additional equipment and software used for online training and assistance to participants in two of the programs of the foundation. The two organizations continue their cooperation by involving Bosch experts in the Foundation initiative “A New Way of Teaching”.
Guided by its mission to support safety in all areas – both on the road and in the physical activities, this year the Center became a partner in the actions of the Bulgarian Avalanche Organization and purchased a specially equipped snowmobile to support the prevention and the safe practice of mountain sports.
Recognition for the achievements
Bosch Engineering Center Sofia was awarded a Class A Investor Certificate from the Ministry of Economy for sustainable investments, creation of new jobs and implementation of high technologies for the automotive industry. The company was awarded the statuette Golden Bull at the 15th Annual Awards “Investor of the Year”. This year the company took first place in the Technology Excellence section of the Annual awards “Company of the Year”, and with its project “Future driving – safe and with care for the environment and society” was awarded in the most contested category – “Investor in Community” at the Annual Responsible
Business Awards 2020. The Center is among the winners of the Career Show Awards 2021 in four categories and is among the finalists in one of the most contested categories “Best Employer in the IT Sector”.
