May 26 (SeeNews) - US robotic-assisted surgery systems manufacturer Intuitive Surgical is planning to spend over 80 million levs ($43.7 million/40.9 million euro) to construct a state-of-the-art production plant in Bulgaria, as part of a drive to cater to expanding demand for the technology and to grow its European footprint, the ministry of innovation said.
The site will be located in the town of Parvomay, Plovdiv region, and will allow Intuitive to increase its production capacity for 3D endoscopes used in Intuitive's Da Vinci robotic surgery systems, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday after the company presented the initial phase of the project.
The investment will help create more than 100 new jobs, with the potential for growing the workforce to over 300 in the next few years.
Founded in 1995 and based in Sunnyvale, California, Nasdaq-listed Intuitive has to date supplied over 6,730 Da Vinci surgical systems worldwide, according to the company's website. Apart from Da Vinci, it also makes Ion, a robotic-assisted platform for minimally-invasive peripheral lung biopsy, as well as My Intuitive, a mobile application for collecting medical data which links to the cloud-based Da Vinci system.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)