Based in Switzerland, ABB Group makes products for electrification (like breakers and switches), robotics and motion, industrial automation, and power grids plus the software behind the scenes that runs them. The firm’s chief goal is to push the boundaries of technology and embed sustainability into every segment in which it operates. This month for example, it launched a new portfolio of electrification and digital systems designed to accelerate the decarbonization of the mining sector. Last month, it unveiled a new high-tech ship designed for a highly specialized function: laying cable for and servicing offshore wind farms. This summer it announced a new EV charging network aimed at covering 85 percent of the UK’s motorways plus cites and towns across the country.

Electrification applications, credit ABB Group

The group’s history goes way back. ABB is the result of a strategic merger between ASEA, a company founded in 1833 in Sweden to build motors and transmitters using a then-new technology called electricity, and Switzerland’s Brown Boveri, founded in 1891, the first company to transmit high-voltage electrical power and build a European steam turbine. These firms merged in 1988, cementing their shared focus on innovation. To power future growth, today’s ABB is squarely focused on R&D in automation and digitization. The firm has seven R&D offices worldwide engaged in partnerships with more than 100 university and research labs to develop new products. Of its 7,000 R&D employees, 60 percent of them focused on software. ABB employs more than 105,000 people in more than 100 countries.

ABB Virtual Smart City, credit: ABB Group

As of 6/30/21, ABB was held in the Knowledge Leaders Strategy.