University to launch flood innovation centre
A £3.4m centre aimed at helping businesses develop innovative solutions to mitigate flood risk is to be set up at the University of Hull.
The launch of the Flood Resilience Innovation Centre follows a successful bid for £1.9m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The centre will enable Humber-based small and medium sized enterprises develop innovative solutions to mitigate flood risk, improve response to flood events and increase resilience where complete flood prevention is impossible.
The Humber is the second most flood-prone region in the UK, with 205,000 properties, 32,500 businesses and 115,000 hectares of land at risk of tidal, fluvial or surface water flooding.
Across the wider UK, 5.2 million homes and other properties (more than one sixth of the total) are at risk of flooding.
In response to these threats, and building on the university’s strengths in flood research, geosciences, climate change, logistics, computer science and engineering, the centre will help businesses identify research and development opportunities aimed at mitigating flood risk and improving resilience and response.
Dr Rob Thomas, senior research fellow in geomorphology and flood risk at the University of Hull said: “Flooding presents an enormous risk to businesses in the Humber region, and that risk is only going to increase over the next few decades.
“Through establishing the Flood Resilience Innovation Centre, we hope to support the Humber region in becoming more resilient, developing innovative products and services to either prevent or mitigate against flood risk in the broadest sense and improve resilience and efficiency of response where and when flood events occur.
“The Flood Resilience Innovation Centre adds to the portfolio of programmes led by our Energy and Environment Institute that aim to address regional, national and global flood risk and resilience.”
