The UK Government is investing nearly quarter of a billion pound for materials research and innovation. With academic and industrial partners, Sir Henry Royce institute for Materials Research and Innovation is being established with the funding of 235 million pounds in the University of Manchester. This institute will have satellite centers at other leading Universities in England such as Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford, Sheffield and Imperial College.
According to the statement from the University of Manchester, this investment from the British government is the largest single funding in its history. Some of the objectives of this massive investment in materials research are to enhance the growth of UK´s manufacturing sector, undertake research in soft, hard and functional materials. A significant effort will be to allow industry to work closely with academia. Already the UK government has established National Graphene Institute (NGI) with the funding of about 61 million pound in the University of Manchester to take the wonder material graphene into the next step. NGI building is expected to be finished and occupied in earlier part of 2015.
(By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA.)