News

Top research units lead the way as NetPark opens for business

(1 October 2004)

Two of the University of Durham’s high-profile research units have become the first tenants to move into the new NetPark science and technology complex which is currently taking shape near Sedgefield in County Durham.

The Netpark Research Institute is the first building to be completed in phase one of the 250-acre science park which is set to become a major new leading edge technology hub for the UK.

As from Monday 4th October the 24,000 sq ft NetPark Research Institute will house the University’s world-class research projects in astronomical instrumentation and digital enterprise technologies.

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI) and the Institute for Agility and Digital Enterprise Technology (IADET) are both undertaking groundbreaking technological research and their re-location to NetPark is a major milestone in development of this flagship project led by Durham County Council.

The CfAI has an international reputation for the development, design and construction of state-of-the art instruments for optical and infrared astronomy, and works closely with major observatories around the world to improve the quality of astronomical imaging and observation.

The high-tech environment at the NetPark Research Institute will allow the research team to assemble, integrate and test new instruments. The CfAI team, previously based in the Department of Physics, has built and commissioned more than ten new instruments for the UK’s largest telescopes in the Canary Islands, Australia and Hawaii.

The University‘s IADET team brings together leading-edge digital enterprise technology research and knowledge and technology transfer aimed at promoting further research and economic development.

By harnessing the latest developments in advanced computer modelling and visualisation and information management, IADETgives industry new insights into product, process and factory development, resulting in risk mitigation and responsiveness to changing markets.

The Agility Group is already an established and successful technology transfer and consultancy project supporting “agile” or “responsive” manufacturing operations to industry across the North East region. Agility are funded to provide subsidised technology transfer and consultancy to business’s throughout the region, in the last year they have successfully completed projects with over eighty companies.

Professor Paul Maropoulos, the Director of IADET, said : “IADET has world -class computing, precision engineering and metrology laboratories, facilitating the integrated analysis of design, manufacture and supply chain issues. These research laboratories will provide the technology transfer team of the Agility Group with world leading technologies and systems for the benefit of regional and UK industry.”

The NetPark Research Institute provides unique facilities for both research teams to develop and expand and Durham University sees the move to NetPark as an excellent opportunity to channel more of its world-class research into the economic regeneration of County Durham and the wider region. NetPark provides quality space and the ideal environment for technology-based business activity to grow directly out of university research.

The University estimates that scores of jobs could be created at NetPark out of its research activities alone over the next few years. At present CfAI already has 40 staff, 15 of whom are based at NetPark and IADET has 25 , over the next few years up to 20 new jobs could be created as both projects develop.

As from Monday 4th October 2004, CfAI and IADET will be operating from the NetPark Research Institute which is located at Joseph Swan Road, Sedgefield, County Durham TS21 3FB

For further information about IADET contact Julie Swinbank 0773 965 9271 For further information about CfAI contact David Robertson 0191 334 4822

Media enquiries to : Tom Fennelly, Public Relations Office, University of Durham, Tel 0191 334 6078 or e-mail : t.p.fennelly@durham.ac.uk.


Notes to Editors

1. Durham University’s Institute for Agility & Digital Enterprise Technology (IADET) is a vital part of the University’s presence at the NetPark Research Institute. The Institute supports the growth of new research areas within the University, interfaces with the regional centres of excellence and e-science and helps in attracting inward investment and creating spin-off companies. It also gives strength to industrial applications via the Agility Group, and underpins novel future developments in industry and the service sector.
2. The work of the DET project impacts on product development, manufacture and distribution and develop objective risk mitigation strategies on a global basis. DET is a prerequisite technology to underpin Mass Customization, support Innovation and deliver e-business/ manufacture. Digital Enterprise Technology enhances a company's capacity to respond quickly to changes in product or market conditions, re-plan its operations and maximise both its own performance and customer satisfaction.
3. The Agility project primarily addresses attributes of agility in relation to physical plant, equipment, and product and market responsiveness. It also aims at establishing suitable practices and culture within each company, which will promote self-reliance and sustain the long-term operation and evolution of the new methods. The Agility project is already embedded into the economic life of County Durham with a range of small and medium enterprises that have taken advantage of its services. NetPark offers the Agility Group an excellent platform for its expansion and the further development of its technologies.
4. Durham University's Physics Department has been ranked as the UK's No 1 by The Times newspaper university tables for the last four years. The department undertakes research ranging from elementary particle physics and cosmology to applied areas receiving substantial support from industry.
5. The Advanced Instrumentation group collaborates with observatories world-wide in the construction, commissioning and exploitation of innovative hi-tech instruments for optical and infrared astronomy. Key research areas are: advanced spectroscopy, adaptive optics, applied optics, low light level detectors and precision engineering/metrology.
6. The new Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at the NetPark Research Institute will enable the commercial potential to be developed, exploited and diversified, for example, into industrial and medical applications.