Innovating to enhance its customers' lives has been Michelin's development credo ever since it was founded, as well as a powerful means of differentiation.

It has led to such important technological revolutions as radial and low energy consumption tyres and has laid the foundations for the Group's premium positioning, feeding its ability to meet the challenges related to ensuring safer, more effective, more environmentally respectful and more enjoyable mobility.

Because we believe that mobility is a cornerstone of human development, we are passionate about innovation. Delivering uncompromising quality is a priority commitment to our customers and a constant driving force for Michelin for the past 125 years.

Safety is the number one issue for Michelin. The number of vehicles on the road is expected to double by 2050. Expectations are therefore very high huge to ensure that mobility is increasingly safe. Tyres make a significant contribution to this objective and Michelin has a major role to play.

Another challenge that is just as important is respect for the environment which places the emphasis on the energy-efficiency and durability of our products.

Research and Development work obviously covers a very wide range of activities, since tyres will need to adapt to a world where the number of electric, hybrid and connected vehicles on the road is increasing all the time.

To respond to this shift, Michelin is working hard on the materials it employs, as well as on the construction and weight of its tyres. This is where the full force and power of Michelin's innovation is being directed.

Currently, 70 percent of MICHELIN tires on the roads of the planet are developed in the heart of France's Auvergne region at one of the largest centres for manufacturing research in the world. Located on the outskirts of Clermont-Ferrand, the Ladoux Technology Centre has been the hub of the Group's Research and 21 test and Development work for the past 50 years. The 450-hectare facility consists of 79 buildings tracks (totalling 43 kilometres in length) where 3,300 people work in 350 different professions.

Since its creation in 1965, the Michelin Technology Centre has evolved constantly to respond to the changing needs of a world in perpetual motion. Today, a new and important modernisation phase has begun.

The first phase of the ambitious URBALAD project, which will be fully operational at the beginning of 2018, is now a reality.

An important tool for the Michelin Group to serving its global Research, Development and Industrialisation needs is the RDI Campus which will house 1,600 work stations and an unprecedented pooling of skills in a single ultra-modern seven-hectare building.

A key feature of this new facility is that it will concentrate an exceptional innovative force which will enable Michelin to deliver solutions and services tailored closely to the needs of mobility-related issues and thereby strengthen its position as world leader.

(*) as of 2010.

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