Business Minister Anna Soubry MP visits the 3M BIC
Dr Michael Wilson, Technology Manager of the University’s 3D printing laboratory, is pictured with Business Minister Anna Soubry MP, talking about how they make the model and prototypes to allow a business to a take a product idea to a state of tangible reality.
Fri, 09 Oct 2015 10:44:00 BST
“...innovation and enterprise are central to the Government’s vision for a Northern Powerhouse...”
► In the video Anna Soubry MP talks about her visit to the University's 3M Buckley Innovation Centre.
THE University of Huddersfield welcomed the Business Minister Anna Soubry, to the campus to view some of the initiatives currently underway supporting the region’s small and medium enterprises.
The Minister was invited to visit the University’s successful 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC), which opened in the summer of 2012 at an investment cost of £12 million.
► Ms Soubry meets staff from the National Physical Laboratory, whose Northern base is at the 3M BIC.
The Centre is now full to capacity and offers a unique environment to facilitate partnerships between businesses and the University, currently housing a combination of large corporates, start-up companies and, in particular, SMEs.
Ms Soubry recently launched the Government’s Enterprise Bill, published last month, which is designed to cut red tape, encourage investment in skills and to ensure that the UK “is the best place in Europe to start and grow a business”.
During her visit, the Minister, who was escorted by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan CBE, was introduced to representatives from a number of small businesses and was shown around the facility.
► Ms Soubry is pictured talking to Mary Kolu in the Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Centre, about her social enterprise 'Calls to My Sister', which conveys health messages to African audiences.
In particular, Ms Soubry met staff from the National Physical Laboratory, whose Northern base is at the 3M BIC. She visited the Innovation Centre’s state-of-the-art 3D visualisation technology, which uses a combination of augmented reality, 3D rotational renders and virtual reality to develop promotional material, training aids or functional simulations. She was also invited to try her hand at 3D printing. The University’s 3D printing laboratory allows a business to a take a product idea to a state of tangible reality by creating a model or prototype.
The Minister’s visit concluded with a tour of The Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Centre, which is housed in the 3M BIC. The Centre provides incubator support for start-up businesses created by current students and recent graduates.
The Minister, who was impressed with the Centre, said: “Innovation and enterprise are central to the Government’s vision for a Northern Powerhouse. Centres like 3M Buckley play an invaluable role in supporting this agenda by helping local businesses to thrive, create new jobs and develop new technologies using pioneering methods like 3D printing.”
