Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya was delighted to welcome to WMG a senior delegation from the city of Chongzhou, located in Yangtze River delta in China. The delegation, accompanied by the British Consulate in Shanghai, were visiting the Midlands at the invitation of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to develop mutually beneficial economic links.

The delegation discussed strategic links between Chongzhou and the Midlands with Lord Bhattacharyya prior to discussions on WMG’s research and education programmes supporting Chinese companies and the WMG Academy for Young Engineers.

The group then visited the Energy Innovation Centre and the International Manufacturing Centre to view the unique research infrastructure that supports a strong UK industry base that mirrors the industries located in and near to Chongzhou.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was pleased to host a visit from Mr Jin Xu, Minister Counsellor for the Embassy of People’s Republic of China, on Tuesday (28 July).

Joining Mr Jin Xu and colleagues from the Chinese Embassy, were representatives from Jaguar Land Rover, Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, The Marches LEP, Black Country LEP, Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, Marketing Birmingham, and United Kingdom Trade and Investment.

WMG was pleased to welcome Professor Philip C.H. Chan, Deputy President and Provost, and Professor H.C. Man, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, both from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. They were visiting WMG for the annual Liaison meeting relating the collaborative programmes running through the two institutions.

WMG offers an EngD programme in Hong Kong as well as MSc degrees in Engineering Business Management and in Manufacturing Systems Engineering which are awarded jointly with Hong Kong Polytechnic University. An MSc in Supply Chain & Logistics Management has also been approved and will be offered later in 2015.

Today WMG was pleased to welcome Seán Sherlock TD, Minister of State for Overseas Development Assistance, Trade Promotion and North South Co-operation for the Republic of Ireland. The Minister visited WMG as part of a wider Enterprise Ireland trade mission to the UK. He was joined by a delegation of representatives from the Irish business community.

Meeting with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, the Minister and delegates were interested to understand more about WMG’s work with industry and some of the key collaborative programmes taking place on campus such as the National Automotive Innovation Centre.

The delegation undertook a tour of some of WMG’s key research facilities meeting with WMG academics in particular areas of interest including automation systems, composites, energy and metrology research.

The delegation also spent some time visiting colleagues at partner organisations on campus at the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Tata Motors European Technical Centre.

WMG, at the University of Warwick and Tata Steel are strengthening their collaborative research and education programmes providing a critical mass of research excellence which will position the UK at the forefront of the international iron and steel research agenda.

There is already a strong relationship between the two organisations and the signing of an MOU seeks to promote the collaboration in the fields of science, technology and education.

A new £20m industry and government funded international centre for Advanced Steels Research is to be built at Warwick. This new world class centre will provide a unique national resource, and will complement Tata Steel’s long term investment in its own move to facilities based at the University of Warwick. WMG will be working with Tata Steel through a hub to bring together Tata Steel sponsored activity across UK universities.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was delighted to host a visit to WMG by the Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr Jovan Donev, who visited on Thursday 09 April.

The automotive industry is a growth sector in Macedonia and Mr Donev and Professor Lord Bhattacharyya discussed how universities can play a role in enabling such growth through research and education.

The Ambassador also had an opportunity to see some of the research programmes being undertaken in WMG's International Manufacturing Centre.

As part of his election campaign Labour Leader Ed Miliband MP has today delivered his ‘The fabric of our country’ speech to an invited audience at WMG’s International Digital Laboratory.

Mr Miliband was welcomed to the campus by WMG’s Chairman, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya. The event was also attended by Shabana Mahmood, MP Shadow Minister (Treasury).

On Tuesday 17th March, Mr Ratan N. Tata (Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons), Cyrus P. Mistry (Chairman of Tata Group) met with Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya the Chairman and Founder of WMG at the University of Warwick and unveiled the foundation stone of the new £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre on the campus of the University of Warwick.

The National Automotive Innovation Centre will be the largest automotive research centre of its kind in Europe. Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors, and WMG have made an investment of £150m in the capital building and research activities, with £30m capital costs funded by the Government's Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The 33,000m² complex will provide space for 1,000 engineers, designers and academics to work together, from apprentices to senior managers. Teaching facilities will support the education of tomorrow’s engineers with the Centre being open to students from the WMG Academies for Young Engineers to work on real world applications.

The high tech research facilities will include: a design and simulation space creating innovative automotive solutions: an Advanced Propulsion Research Laboratory which will address the national requirement to position the UK as the leading innovator in advanced propulsion systems; the world’s most adaptable and advanced fully immersive drive-in car simulator. There will be close working on collaborative research projects with the research councils and the department of Business Innovation and Skills. Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors will also use the NAIC to take forward autonomous vehicles research through a £19m Autodrive UK project.

WMG was pleased to welcome Liz Kendall MP, the Labour Party Shadow Minister for Care and Older People as she visited WMG's Institute of Digital Healthcare (IDH) on Monday 9th March, 2015.

Meeting with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Ms Kendall heard about the research undertaken by IDH to force healthcare innovation, including how researchers are working with partners in the West Midlands NHS to translate academic innovation into improved healthcare outcomes in fields as varied as cancer and obesity and how partnerships with the NHS and cross-disciplinary innovators can improve treatments and waiting times.

As well as visiting WMG's Digital Laboratory, Ms Kendall met with Professor Theo Arvanitis, Chair in e-Health Innovation and IDH's Head of Research, Professor Meghana Pandit, Chief Medical Officer, University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire and Professor Caroline Meyer, Professor of Digital Healthcare. They discussed how IDH research projects were delivering change for local patients and the potential applications of new digital technologies in the prevention and treatment of illness.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, and BAE Systems have signed a memorandum of understanding for the delivery a new post-graduate programme in Cyber Security.

The programme has been developed in cooperation with WMG’s Cyber Security Centre and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to offer a three-year MSc in Cyber Security and Management. Both universities formally agreed to the programme during a signing ceremony at the House of Lords in London.

The extensive programme will offer ten specifically designed Cyber Security and Management modules delivered at UPNM each year of the programme. Up to a total of 72 students will study the programme over three years.

The partnership with BAE Systems also extends through to research with BAE’s Applied Intelligence.