Uni joins strategic partnership with National Physical Laboratory
His Royal Highness The Duke of York, patron of the University of Huddersfield, visiting the NPL labs in the University's 3M Buckley Innovation Centre.
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 10:26:00 BST
The partnership will lead to a centre of excellence for advanced manufacturing metrology and a new base for NPL at Huddersfield
In a ministerial statement last Thursday, 10 July, The Rt Hon David Willetts MP, the then Minister for Universities and Science, announced the development of a strategic partnership with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) for “the next exciting phase of its future”.
Mr Willetts said that the preferred partners would be the universities of Surrey and Strathclyde. Soon after the competitive bidding process was underway, the University of Huddersfield joined the Surrey/Strathclyde consortium as a co-partner alongside Cambridge University and international life sciences measurement and testing company, LGC.
The proposals, still subject to final discussions, will see an extension of NPL’s existing metrology activities working with the University’s EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology and the creation of a new purpose-built research facility.
Leading the negotiations on behalf of the University of Huddersfield has been Professor Liz Towns-Andrews, the CEO of the University’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre and holder of the 3M Chair of Innovation.
She said: “The new facility for NPL will provide a much-needed community of research and technical support in metrology, delivering tangible benefits to the UK’s high value manufacturing sector and contributing to sustainable growth and competitiveness. This responds to Government emphasis on the importance of measurement science for the development of high added-value products by UK industry.”
- The 3M Buckley Innovation Centre is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Huddersfield and Kirklees Metropolitan Council.
