Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was pleased to welcome Gareth Davies, Director General, Business and Science, at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to WMG at teh University of Warwick.

Mr Davies was interested to learn more about WMG’s research, particularly how it collaborates with industry to create innovative products.

After meeting with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Mr Davies was given a tour of the Group’s R&D facilities which include the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) led by Principal Engineer Mark Amor-Segan. The EIC includes a battery characterisation laboratory, aggressive testing chambers and an electric/hybrid drives test facility, and Mark was able to highlight some of the hybrid and electric vehicle battery research currently undertaken.

The tour then moved on to the International Manufacturing Centre’s Engineering Hall to Professor Jennings, where they discussed WMG’s research into smart and connected vehicles. Mr Davies heard about how the team produced a laser scan of 30 miles of Coventry roads to test driverless pods through a research project with RDM.

Mr Davies then went on to hear about key research in Composites from Professor of Structural Composites, Ken Kendall. His visit concluded with a tour of the Metrology and Visualisation Suite with Professor Mark Williams, leader of WMG’s Product Evaluation Technologies Group. Mr Davies was shown current research in new approaches to metrology and dimensional inspection. He virtually walked through the new National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) through building information modelling presented on the 4K resolution 3D visualisation wall that has the latest 10 MegaPixel digital projectors which combine to create the highest resolution system in the UK. Set for completion in 2017, NAIC will be the largest research centre of its kind in Europe, enhancing the UK’s capacity and capability in key areas of automotive research including driverless vehicles, and will enable industry to work side-by-side with academics to create exciting new products.

Mr Davies said:

"It was inspiring to spend time at the WMG and see some of their ground breaking research to develop new advanced manufacturing processes and technologies. We want to make the UK the best place in Europe to innovate and the WMG is an excellent example of how our world-leading universities can work with innovative businesses to position the UK at the forefront of pioneering technology."

For further information please contact:

Lisa Barwick, Head of Marketing and Communications, WMG, University of Warwick Tel: 024 76 524721 or 07824 540845 Email: L.Barwick@warwick.ac.uk

Or:

Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Policy, University of Warwick, Tel UK: 024 76523708 office 07767 655860 mobile Tel Overseas: +44 (0)24 76523708 office +44 (0)7767 655860 mobile/cell Email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

PR101 PJD 10th March 2016