£1.7m academy launched to boost NW engineering design skills

LANCASTER University has set up a £1.7m Engineering Design Academy which will help bolster the North West’s engineering skills-base.

 

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with matched funding from Lancaster University as well as from private sector partners, the academy will use research expertise in the university’s engineering department to support businesses, with a particular focus on advanced manufacturing.

The academy, which is funded until June 2015, will safeguard 90 jobs and help to create an additional 43 jobs in the region, the university said.

 

Dr Allan Rennie, head of the Lancaster product development unit within Lancaster University’s engineering department, said: “The academy provides a great opportunity for businesses to work with the outstanding engineering talent at Lancaster University.

 

“Our students and academics possess a wide range of both technical and non-technical skills, providing the region’s SMEs with the necessary support to realise growth.”

 

Businesses can benefit from the academy in a range of ways such as accessing students, graduates, engineers, as well as facilities and equipment and it is a resource available for SMEs that have received less than €200,000 of public funding within the last three financial years and that are based in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester or Lancashire.

 

For more information visit: http://www.engineering.lancs.ac.uk