The University of Warwick has joined with a consortium led by New York University (NYU) bidding to build a new applied sciences and engineering campus in New York.

The move follows a call by New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg last year for universities to come forward with plans to build a new technology-focused education facility to stimulate the city’s innovation economy.

Alongside NYU, the University of Warwick is part of a team which also includes Carnegie Mellon University, University of Toronto, City University of New York (CUNY) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai  as well as industry leaders such as IBM, Cisco and Siemens.  

The consortium has just submitted its formal bid to create a new academic programme to research and develop solutions to the challenges that will face cities around the world.

It will be based near one of NYU’s existing locations in Downtown Brooklyn .

Known as the Center for Urban Sciences and Progress (CUSP), the programme will be tied to five cities on three continents and will become an  epicentre of global thinking about how cities around the world can:

• become more energy efficient;
• reduce congestion and pollution;
• use increasingly vast amounts of data more effectively and quickly to make decisions and to inform their citizens;
• enhance safety and security;
• and ensure a high quality of life.

University of Warwick Vice-Chancellor Professor Nigel Thrift said:

“The University of Warwick is a globally-connected university with links with institutions across the globe and staff and students from more than 140 countries.  

“This bid draws on Warwick’s long history of close working  partnerships with businesses which range from multinationals like Jaguar Land Rover through to small and medium-sized firms, all of which benefit from access to the University’s technology and knowhow and apply that knowledge  to create new jobs and expand their businesses.

“The aims of the Center for Urban Sciences and Progress are closely aligned with our research priorities of manufacturing, energy, food security and healthcare – all major themes with impacts on the lives of city dwellers in the 21^st century.

“Through building links with the US, not only will we have the chance to make an impact on the economic development of New York but we will also provide new opportunities for the West Midlands economy.”

More information can be found at www.nyu.edu/cusp