Universities to bag windfall for projects supporting industry

Sheffield Hallam University, which had bid for £6.9m, is to develop a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering opening in 2017.

The centre will work with firms including Mars, McCain Foods, Nestlé, Premier Foods and Warburtons to provide a supply of skilled engineers for the food and drink industry.

The University of Sheffield will get funding to repeat the success of its Advanced Manufacturing Centre to launch “new research industry collaboration” in healthcare technology and the digital sector, which are said to be key areas for the Sheffield City Region’s economy.

Private sector partners will include ARM, Zoo Digital, Wandisco, Boeing, Accenture, Mott Macdonald, IBM, Thales, Costain, Sandvik, Starrag, Carpenter, Mori Seike and Alpha rooms. The plan has the backing of the city region’s Local Enterprise Partnership.

The money, announced by Universities Minister David Willetts, comes from the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE) Catalyst Fund.

Lloyd Snellgrove, director of the research and innovation office at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “We are delighted that we will be able to develop a National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, thanks to HEFCE catalyst funding.

“To be included as one of the 16 successful schemes shows that our plan for the centre can make an important contribution to the food and drink industry and to economic growth.”