Research labs to become UK centre of excellence

Dec 12 2007 by Aaron Boland, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus is to be at the forefront of key research projects to maintain the UK’s position at the cutting edge of scientific research.

The Government has committed to the multi-million pound investment at the Cheshire centre as part of its announcement of how the UK’s £4bn science budget will be spent.

Daresbury, and Harwell in Oxfordshire, have been selected to become centres of excellence by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) which has been allocated £1.9bn over the next three years, an increase of almost 14%.

As well as announcing backing for new projects, the Government also plans to include Daresbury in a review of the Greater Manchester area to see how it can add to the North West economy.

George Baxter, director of science and innovation for the NWDA which, with Halton Council and Liverpool, Lancaster and Manchester universities is a partner in the company running Daresbury, said: “A lot of hi-tech businesses want to be close to the scientists and this is mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, with the airports nearby. It’s growing very rapidly.”

He said it was their long term vision to have “many thousands of people” working at the centre.

The Government announcement means backing for complex research into some of the most fundamental questions about the universe and the origins of life.

Among the projects will be the Hartree supercomputing centre, described as “a new kind of computational sciences institute for the UK” which will build on Daresbury’s already extensive experience in the area.

It will use advanced computing systems capable of trillions of calculations a second to model highly complex scenarios such as the weather, but can be used for aerospace research, life sciences and fundamental physics.

The Halton-based centre will also be at the forefront of developing the “next generation light source” to improve the study of molecules and atoms.

This uses intense beams of light, many times brighter than the surface of the sun, which can be used to look at cells such as cancers, aslmost like an x-ray looks at bones.

John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said that over the last 25 years “the Daresbury campus has become synonymous with leading edge scientific research.”

He said: “I am determined the future for Daresbury should be equally strong and I'm therefore committed to developing the campus as a major international centre of expertise.”

Mr Denham also announced a review to assess the current and potential contribution of the Daresbury campus to science and innovation in the UK economy and to the North West in particular.

The Government says it will have a particular reference to the scale and scope needed to achieve national and international significance, and it will be led by Sir Tom McKillop, the former chief executive of Knutsford-based AstraZeneca.

Sir Tom is currently chairing the Manchester Independent Economic Review, an independent review into the future of the Manchester city region and broader North West economy.

He will now look specifically at how Daresbury can continue to be a leading centre for science and innovation, and a major driver for the regional and national economy.

Prof Keith Mason, chief executive of the STFC, said: “There is a lot of energy and creativity in the North West that the Daresbury laboratory is part of, and we will be taking advantage of that for the national good.”

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