Centre will enable 'blue skies' research into the physical sciences
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A multi-million pound facility dedicated to research into the physical sciences, and how it translates to industry, is to be created at the University of Cambridge.
The £63million Maxwell Centre, provisionally named in honour of physicist James Clerk Maxwell, will open its doors in the summer of 2015.
Its aim will be to investigate new approaches to fundamental science and to solving global challenges such as natural resource demand.
"This will not be conventional research or 'business as usual', but a major effort to go beyond the boundaries of traditional physical science concepts," said Professor Sir Richard Friend, the Cavendish professor of physics, who will be the first director of the centre. "The Maxwell Centre will be the vehicle for translating 'blue skies' research into products of importance for the industrial sector."
The new facility will see scientists from industry and academia tackle fundamental physics research in areas including renewable energy, advanced scientific computing, the theory of condensed matter, advanced materials and the physics of biology and medicine.
George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: "By bringing together our Nobel Prize winning scientists, our world class companies and our entrepreneurial start ups, we can drive innovation and create the economic dynamism Britain needs, using public money to secure private investment so our world class science also delivers jobs and growth."