Translations:Balay S.A./6/en
Owing to the high saturation rates in the traditional product areas, the home appliance business at the beginning of the 1990s was primarily characterized by the need for spare parts. Innovation was required to stand out from the competition. The know-how in induction technology offered by the Spaniards was therefore especially interesting for BSH. The region around Zaragoza was regarded as the Silicon Valley of induction technology from around 1980.[1] The University of Zaragoza and Balay entered into a cooperative partnership from 1981 to develop electromagnetic cooktops. This collaboration culminated in the presentation of the first commercially viable prototypes at the international Domotechnica trade fair in Cologne in 1987. BSH expanded Balay's development department in the years that followed into a competence center for induction technology. The first BSH induction cooktop developed by the engineers in Zaragoza went into series production in 1990.[2]