Telefonica I+D is the research and development company of the Telefónica Group.

Founded in 1988, its mission is to contribute to the Group´s competitiveness and modernity through technological innovation. To achieve this aim, the company applies new ideas, concepts and practices in addition to developing products and advanced services.

It is one of the first private R&D centres in Spain as regards activity and resources, and is the first company on the continent by number of European research projects in which it participates. The main asset of Telefónica I+D is its staff, which is 97% composed of university graduates from 18 different nationalities.

It currently collaborates with technological leaders and many organizations from 40 countries; among which figure more than 150 universities around the world. It also participates in the most important international forums on technological knowledge of the ICT sector, thus creating one of the largest European innovation ecosystems. Products such as the public phones in the booths currently used by Telefónica (1990), the large fixed and mobile network management systems (1990), data switches (1991), Internet access services (1996), developments for digital homes and connected cars (2000), the prepaid system for mobile phones (2004), interactive a la carte digital television (Imagenio) (2004), new services for television and new business models on the Internet (2006)... are some of the many results.

Over the last few years, Telefónica I+D has grown to become a network of centres of technological excellence, extending its R&D activities to offices in Barcelona, Granada, Huesca, Madrid and Valladolid.

At the same time, it is working for the companies in the Telefónica Group in the rest of Europe and America.

Telefónica I+D activity materialises in a portfolio of patents that increases every year, but also in some of the most innovative products that the Telefónica Group has launched in recent months. Some examples are:

• MediaBox (OnVideo in Brazil and VideoClub Imagenio in Spain) is equipment connected to the home network, which allows you to rent movies, documentaries, TV series and concerts.
• TvApps allows Imagenio customers to enjoy interactive TV services about news, sports, time, social networks, games, cultural events, etc.
• O2 Priority in UK facilitates music consumption according to user preferences, habits, and the community to which they belong.
• The global Telefónica platform for application developers, BlueVia, was launched in December initially for users in Spain, UK, Argentina and Mexico, while developers can be anywhere in the world. With this platform, developers will have at their disposition a set of telecommunication applications, aimed at approximately 80 million potential customers.