Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Southampton, said: “We’ve worked closely with NMI for many years and are proud to now be working together on this innovative partnership.
“We feel the new hub has great potential to extend the support and capabilities of the University towards wider industrial engagement, particularly with SMEs, where there are well-documented challenges to overcome.”
Dr Alastair McGibbon, NMI CTO, said: “We’re delighted to develop this partnership with the University and the opportunity to demonstrate a new model of developing the quality and quantity of research partnerships between industry and academia.”
A focus of the hub – to be known as Impactech – will be regular networking events, providing opportunities to hear about the latest challenges and development in key areas of University research, as well as from companies working in those areas.
Collaboration funding will be available, as well as access to funded research activities such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and opportunities with Innovate UK and Horizon 2020.
Prof Al-Hashimi added: “This has been enabled through EPSRC Impact funding and I want to take the opportunity to recognise this key investment. We believe this new partnership model can deliver significant returns.”