The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazonclaimed “the great potential of the Valencian Community for the development of economic activity and the attraction of investments” and highlights “the capacity for leadership in strategic sectors such as medical technology, mobility, logistics, green energy or aeronautics.
This was stated by the head of the Consell at the start of work on the heart valve factory that the company Edwards Life Sciences Its construction is underway in Moncada, which will require an investment of more than 150 million euros and more than 1,200 jobs.
In this way, the president advanced that the Generalitat, through Labora, in collaboration with universities, professional training centers and business, “we are developing a professional training plan to prepare candidates for the specific qualifications required by the production of the new factory”. .
He thus assured that this Edwards installation would transform the Moncada III industrial zone, paralyzed for twenty years, “into a real investment center and development related to high-value health technologies. For Mazón, the choice of the American multinational “puts us on the global map of the best biotechnology companies”, while “promoting talent, innovation and more jobs”.
The president referred to the geostrategic situation of Mediterraneanthe expanding logistics infrastructures, the economic dynamism, the offer of higher education and research and the quality of life of the Valencian Community so that “leading companies in their field choose us to continue growing”.
Environment favorable to balanced development
In this sense, Mazón said that the Consell generates a favorable and stable environment for companies to “invest in our territory, create jobs and promote future opportunities and balanced growth.” Thus, he highlighted the latest data on business creation in the Valencian Community, which in the month of August “increased by 11.7%”, the best data in recent years“. In addition, he highlighted that “we are the autonomous community in Spain that has created the most jobs in the last year.”
During his speech, he highlighted measures such as administrative simplification or attractive taxation which “promote business initiative and do not penalize it”. Thus, he recalled that projects of regional interest will benefit from a specific bonus of 50% of the tax corresponding to documented legal acts or the creation of the Valencian Investment Office (OVI) to support investors and coordinate all agents involved in this matter.
In this sense, he assured that this commitment “in favor of change is already bearing fruit with strategic projects already underway which will mobilize a total investment of 9.825 million euros which will create more than 10,000 jobs”.
Likewise, it has influenced the support for all productive sectors through the Reindustrialization Strategy of the Valencian Community 2024-2028 to “improve the competitiveness and modernization of SMEs and self-employed workers and strengthen industrial production“. An initiative that will benefit from 2 billion euros from the Generalitat over the next four years “with the aim of increasing the weight of industry in our gross domestic product to 20%”.
The head of the Consell also affirmed the need to promote “coordination between all agents involved in the investment” and cited as an example the Edwards project with the participation of the company, the Municipality of Moncada and to the Generalitat to “overcome with responsibility and foresight the difficulties that arose” which made it possible “to carry out and materialize this strategic project for the Community”.
Finally, the president thanked Edwards Lifesciences for the investment of more than 70,000 euros through its Foundation for actions aimed at promoting “social cohesion in our communities”.
State-of-the-art factory
Edwards Lifesciences’ new European factory, which will benefit from LEED Gold environmental certification, is located in Moncada for the manufacture of surgical and transcatheter technology replacement of a heart valve. The new facilities will serve to strengthen and increase the resilience of the company’s global manufacturing network to better serve Europe’s growing patient population and strengthen the company’s ability to care for more and more people with diseases heart disease worldwide.
The head of the Consell attended the ceremony of laying the first stone of the new factory where he was accompanied, among others, by Bernard ZovighianCEO of Edwards Lifesciences; and Joe Nuzzolese, vice president of global sourcing and quality for the multinational.
The factory is made up of different areas, including production buildings, technical office, laboratories, raw material and finished product warehouses, clean rooms and complementary areas.
As part of Edwards’ investment in Moncada, the Edwards Foundation will open a funding application process for area nonprofits that support projects related to health, education or mobility economy of low-income people.
