FARGO — Doosan Bobcat North America plans to open an office in downtown Fargo specially geared toward innovation and digitizing its products and services, the company announced at a business event in Fargo, Thursday evening, Jan. 31.





The center will be located in downtown Fargo's Black Building, which is currently being renovated by Kilbourne Group, which was founded in 2006 by Doug Burgum before he became governor.





Described by Doosan Bobcat as an "internal startup space", the work area will provide a space that will help spur creative thinking.

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Vice President of Engineering Troy Kraft unveiled company plans in a speech at the Emerging Prairie One Million Thanks event at the Fargo Air Museum.





"It was a great central location for our North American headquarters here in Fargo," Kraft said. "The decision was made because of our long and successful history and connection with the local and statewide startup community."





Planning for the 11,000-square-foot work space started nearly two years ago. It will house members from a Fargo-based engineering team, an innovation team, team and telematics teams. it will also house students from the student development program at North Dakota State University.





CEO Scott Park said the space will be an important step toward encouraging more innovation.





"We recognized a need for work space solely dedicated to bringing about innovative ideas and solutions,” he said in a release.





Construction of the center will start March 31, and operations are expected to start Oct. 1.