Vodafone Group is moving its global innovation centre from Silicon Valley to London, as it seeks to benefit from a wealth of technology skills and talent in the UK and Europe.

Bringing its team of highly-skilled engineers, technical architects and designers back to the motherland, Vodafone will establish a hub in London responsible for its global product and services innovation and development activity, bringing it closer to its customers in Europe, Africa and India.

The Vodafone xone hub will be responsible for the global development and incubation of new and emerging technologies, including the building and testing of device prototypes; the development of new apps and services; and the acceleration of latest technologies to commercialisation.

Pratapa Bernard has been appointed as the new head of Vodafone xone reporting to Stefano Parisse, Vodafone’s consumer services director. Bernard formerly led Vodafone’s consumer services business in emerging markets and succeeds Fay Arjomandi who has decided to leave Vodafone to pursue other opportunities.

Stefano Parisse, said: “Establishing a new hub for Vodafone xone in London will bring our product development team closer to the customers it serves. It will allow us to draw on a vast pool of technology talent in the UK and Europe and simplify our development process, enabling us to get the very latest technology into the hands of our customers as quickly as possible.”

Vodafone Ventures, Vodafone’s capital investment arm, will maintain its headquarters in California and will continue to work with early-stage start-ups in the US. Vodafone Global Enterprise, which serves an increasing number of businesses throughout the US, will also maintain its presence in Silicon Valley.

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