The University of Cambridge and Marconi plc will today unveil a £40 million funding deal which includes plans to build a world-class communications centre on the West Cambridge site.

The University of Cambridge and Marconi plc will today unveil a £40 million funding deal which includes plans to build a world-class communications centre on the West Cambridge site.

A core team of Cambridge scientists, including Head of the Computer Laboratory, Professor Ian Leslie, Professor Frank Kelly and Professor Stewart Lee, has spearheaded the project. Ian Leslie says that the investment will enable researchers at Cambridge to work on much larger scale projects than they have done in the past:

"The future of communications relies on blue skies investments such as this one. Fundamental research can't be pinned down to short term deliverables. Scientists have to be given the funds and the space to work on ideas that may or may not lead to discoveries. But without investments, ideas won't lead to anything. Marconi has shown great faith in Cambridge, and in British science."

Photo: Gair Fraser

Frank Kelly, Professor of the Mathematics of Systems at Cambridge's Centre for Mathematical Sciences, says that the new centre will provide valuable support to his research into large scale communications networks:

"The new centre will consolidate Cambridge's position as a leading area for research in the field of telecommunications. In the Computer Laboratory, the Department of Engineering, the Centre for Mathematical Sciences and the Faculty of Economics, problems arise which are fundamental to each discipline, but which are driven by new technologies. The new centre will provide opportunities for interdisciplinary projects to properly address these issues."

Photo: Julia Hedgecoe

Professor Sir Alec Broers, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, welcomed the announcement, saying that the new partnership has global significance in the field of telecommunications research:

"Here in Cambridge we are determined to push the boundaries of knowledge and to do that we need to work with world class partners like Marconi. This is a very significant and exciting investment in UK technology and British research."

Photo: Nigel Luckhurst

Andy Hopper, Professor of Communications Engineering and head of AT&T Laboratories, Cambridge, claims that the announcement is good news for the city of Cambridge, as well as for the University:

"The decision by another major international IT company to invest in Cambridge reflects the quality of research at the University, and the region's growing reputation as a centre of excellence for IT and communications."


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