{"id":69960,"date":"2016-04-26T17:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=bf62a5eb7ed551a715a372a573f329e7"},"modified":"2016-04-26T17:00:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T17:00:11","slug":"news-story-new-180-million-fund-to-accelerate-energy-research-across-the-midlands-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=69960","title":{"rendered":"News story: New \u00a3180 million fund to accelerate energy research across the Midlands Engine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A major new fund designed to drive cutting-edge research, innovation and skills across the Midlands Engine, has been officially launched today (26 April 2016) with significant backing from Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.<\/p>\n

The Chancellor set out a commitment at the Spending Review<\/a> to deliver significant government investment in the Midlands across transport, energy and culture. This included \u00a360 million to help establish a new Energy Research Accelerator (ERA<\/abbr>) to help grow the region\u2019s high-tech, high-skilled economy.<\/p>\n

The ERA<\/abbr> will receive \u00a360 million of public money to unlock \u00a3120 million of private sector co-investment and it was launched today by the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n

The ERA<\/abbr> is the first project to be delivered by the \u201cMidlands Innovation\u201d initiative, a collaboration of 6 leading universities across the Midlands.<\/p>\n

The universities, Aston University, the University of Birmingham, Leicester University, Loughborough University, the University of Nottingham and the University of Warwick, will work alongside the British Geological Survey, local industry and others to create a global centre of excellence for energy research and innovation. <\/p>\n

It will tackle some of the biggest energy challenges facing the UK and investigate how to make the best use of the resources available by being more efficient and innovative whilst producing affordable, safe energy.<\/p>\n

The Midlands Innovation initiative has ambitious plans to apply the same vision to the nation\u2019s transport, health, and biomedical science challenges in the future.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch event for Midlands Innovation alongside the Chair of Midlands Innovation, Professor Sir David Greenaway and Dr Tony Harper, Head of Research for Jaguar Land Rover; Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord O\u2019Neill said:<\/p>\n

\n

Backing innovation and skills is key to helping make the Midlands an Engine for Growth for Britain and this funding will help to drive forward the combined expertise for the leading universities in the region.<\/p>\n

The Chancellor used the Spending Review last year to set out how the government is making significant investments in the Midlands, across transport, energy and culture and this funding is another example of our work to back the region\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The evening saw Lord O\u2019Neil and the Midlands Innovation universities announce:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • first major programme from Midlands Innovation – a \u00a3180 million Energy Research Accelerator (ERA<\/abbr>). ERA<\/abbr> is a cross-disciplinary hub of technology research and energy talent which brings the expertise of Midlands Innovation universities and the British Geological Survey together with the surrounding industrial base to tackle some of the biggest energy challenges facing the UK<\/li>\n
  • government, via the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has committed an initial capital investment of \u00a360 million to ERA<\/abbr>. This investment has unlocked private sector co-investment of a further \u00a3120 million for the first phase of the programme <\/li>\n
  • the following companies will provide \u00a3100 million to co-finance the ERA<\/abbr>: Arcola, Blueprint, CPL, GE Aviation, Hydrexia, Intelligent Energy, ITM Power, Johnson Matthey, Lafarge, Royal Engineers, Schlumberger, Siemens, Torftech, TWI, JLR, Cofely, Dearman Engine Co, Highview<\/li>\n
  • universities will provide the final \u00a320 million and together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), have collectively committed \u00a32.4 million to recruit 33 doctoral students to help deliver this step change in applied innovation to work on areas such as: smarter energy systems, reducing the UK\u2019s dependence on importing energy, enhancing energy security and resilience, and helping to achieve the UK\u2019s carbon reduction targets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Speaking at the launch, Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham and Chair of Midlands Innovation said: <\/p>\n

    \n

    Midlands Innovation brings together the leading research engines in the region. The partnership is built on a strong history of our universities working together and with the Energy Research Accelerator we have created a cross-disciplinary research hub which connects academia and industry to create jobs, drive growth, develop skills and produce innovative new products with sustainable, practical uses.<\/p>\n

    Through exciting applications of combined research expertise such as ERA<\/abbr>, Midlands Innovation will help leverage the capabilities of the Midlands with national and international firms and investors and provide a platform for productivity for the region and wider UK.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Further information<\/h3>\n

    The first major programme from Midlands Innovation is the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA<\/abbr>). ERA<\/abbr> is a cross-disciplinary energy research hub which brings the expertise of Midlands Innovation universities and the British Geological Survey, together with the surrounding industrial base, to tackle some of the biggest energy challenges facing the UK. <\/p>\n

    It will address how to make the best use of the resources available by being more efficient and innovative whilst producing affordable, safe energy.<\/p>\n

    The government has committed an initial capital investment of \u00a360 million to ERA<\/abbr>, with a further \u00a3120 million co-investment from the private sector for the first phase of work.<\/p>\n

    ERA<\/abbr> has also committed \u00a32.4 million to train doctoral students to help develop the new technologies and behaviours that will open the avenues for future energy innovation. This includes smarter energy systems, reducing the UK\u2019s dependence on importing energy, enhancing energy security and resilience, and helping to achieve the UK\u2019s carbon reduction targets. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Major new fund launched to drive cutting-edge research, innovation and skills across the Midlands Engine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}