£60M GRAPHENE CENTRE FOR MANCHESTER.
The University of Manchester is to build a £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), which will be partially funded by an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company. The centre is to complement the UK National Graphene Institute at the university and will put the city in "pole position" to take advantage of the opportunities of the wonder material, according to Chancellor George Osborne.
The GEIC is to provide facilities so graphene based products can be fast-tracked from the drawing board to the market.
It will be partially funded by £15m from the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, £5m from Innovate UK, formerly the Technology Strategy Board, and
£30m from Abu Dhabi clean technology and renewable energy group Masdar.
The remainder of the funding will be sourced by the university from funding schemes.
It will complement and build on the UK National Graphene Institute which is nearing completion.
Chancellor George Osborne said: "Graphene is potentially a game-changer – its properties make it one of the most important commercial scientific breakthroughs in recent memory. It presents tremendous opportunities with the potential to provide thousands of jobs of billions of pounds of further investment.
"This new centre, alongside the National Graphene Institute, has put Manchester and the UK in pole position to take advantage of these opportunities and lead the world in this exciting new technology."
Meanwhile, the government's chief scientific adviser Mark Walport has set out proposals for a potential major new National Institute for Materials Research and Innovation in the North of England.
Walport has been considering options for a centre since June and plans to build on the expertise in materials sciences in the north.
He will continue to develop the proposals in consultation with institutions and industry across the country.
The final decisions about whether to proceed with the centre will be taken in the Autumn Statement.
Osborne: "This is another big step in delivering our plan for the Northern Powerhouse. Science is at the heart of the economic prospects for the north of England. I asked Mark Walport to develop exciting plans – and this proposal is certainly exciting.
"It would put the north of England at the centre of the search for the new materials of the future – and bring new jobs and investment as these materials are developed. That's what the investment in graphene has already proved."
Walport added: "This proposal for a National Institute for Materials Research and Innovation is based in the north but has national scope, integrating strengths across the UK in academia and industry, and must be able to operate at a scale that no one university can achieve alone."
The Chancellor is in Manchester today (10 September) to chair a meeting of Northern leaders including Jim O'Neill, head of the City Growth Commission and Dame Nancy Rothwell, president and vice-chancellor of The University of Manchester.
