Member Article

Chancellor unlocks £30m for Cheshire super computing research

The Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a £30m grant for super computing research to be carried out at the Hartree Centre in Daresbury, Cheshire.

Speaking at Daresbury Science and Innovation Park on Friday, the Chancellor said £19m will go towards research to make super computers more efficient and to enhance battery life for smartphones, laptops and tablets.

A further £11m will be invested in advanced computing capability for the world’s largest radio telescope, which will be used to investigate the origins of the universe.

As many as 10,000 highly skilled jobs could be created across hundreds of technology companies and as much as £150m private investment could be unlocked as a result of the government funding.

Mr Osborne said: “Britain is in a global race and we are in a position to lead the way in science and technology.

“Projects like the Daresbury development are crucial to boosting the economy and putting the UK at the forefront of the big data revolution.”

Minister for universities and science, David Willetts, also commented: “The next generation of scientific discovery will be data-driven.

“This £30 million investment will support one of the world’s leading high performance computing software centres.

“It will help ensure that UK science and industry stay at the very forefront of research and development.”

The funding is part of a larger £600m government package for science announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .