Skip to main content

Hyperloop opens global innovation centre for logistics in Brazil

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) has opened a global innovation centre in Minas Gerais, Brazil, with the intention of creating an ecosystem to help solve global challenges in logistics. Called XO Square, the 43,000 sq/ft facility will house the company’s logistic research division, a fabrication lab and an ecosystem of global companies, startups, universities, innovators, scientists and governments. XO Square is supported by the government of the State of Minas Gerais, the State of
April 10, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
8535 Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) has opened a global innovation centre in Minas Gerais, Brazil, with the intention of creating an ecosystem to help solve global challenges in logistics.


Called XO Square, the 43,000 sq/ft facility will house the company’s logistic research division, a fabrication lab and an ecosystem of global companies, startups, universities, innovators, scientists and governments.

XO Square is supported by the government of the State of Minas Gerais, the State of Minas Gerais Research Foundation, the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais and the Municipality of Contagem.

This agreement was secured through a public-private partnership with its first phase valued approximately $7.85m (£5.5m). The investment includes contributions from HyperloopTT, the Secretariat of Economic Development, Science, Technology and Higher Education (SEDECTES).

Miguel Corrêa, state secretary of SEDECTES, said: "The government of Minas Gerais works towards promoting the State's innovation and entrepreneurship scenario, encouraging young people to become involved in research and technology. Our objective is to connect large companies and startups, generating businesses and smart solutions for different areas. Knowing that Minas Gerais will host HyperloopTT's research center, means that we are contributing with the State's economic growth throughout different paths, such as science, technology and innovation. This choice strengthens and boosts credibility for the actions being developed by the government.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UK firms challenged to cut freight emissions
    September 22, 2017
    UK companies are urged to compete for up to US$20 million (£15 million) of funding to develop technology to reduce harmful emissions from freight. Roads Minister Jesse Norman has called on businesses to lead research into low emission technology for lorries, as well as cars and vans. The projects could see materials which make vehicles lighter, or improve the efficiency of engines or batteries, he says.
  • Do satellites provide a heavenly view of tolling’s future?
    December 16, 2014
    Satellite-based tolling opens up new options for authorities and can be integrated with DSRC systems as David Crawford discovers. As the proud custodian of the European Union (EU)’s longest road network covered by a single (truck) charging scheme – and the only one to include all major roads - Slovakia has become the continent’s poster-nation for the virtues of GNSS/CN (Global Navigation Satellite System/Cellular Network)-based tolling. It is also proved to be a very fast implementer. Speaking at the 2014 I
  • Interoperability: towards the new frontier
    October 22, 2018
    After six years of intensive research, testing and negotiation, the US tolling industry is well on its way to groundbreaking results in the effort to establish regional - and eventually national - toll interoperability, says IBTTA’s Bill Cramer. Interoperability has been a high priority on the US tolling industry’s agenda for more than a decade. But several factors made it a uniquely complex issue to resolve - including the number of agencies involved, the significant investments those agencies had already
  • ITS will help ‘fifth generation’ roads offer pan-European solution
    December 21, 2018
    The next generation of roads - the ‘fifth generation’ - will provide the world’s highway authorities with a big leap forward, delegates to the recent European Road Conference heard. Adewole Adesiyun, deputy secretary general at the Brussels-based Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories (FEHRL), said a paradigm shift is taking place, offering “solutions to existing and future problems with new ways to use smart, intelligent and dynamic technologies”. The first four generations of roa