Turing Institute ‘should be based in NW’
BUSINESS leaders have called for the £42m Alan Turing Institute announced in yesterday’s Budget to be based in the North West.
The Chancellor unveiled the plans for a centre that would focus on big data and algorithm research. It would seek to help British companies by bringing together expertise in tackling problems requiring huge computing power.
Its location has not yet been decided and a tender to house the institute will be issued this year.
Alan Turing is the famous British mathematician who led codebreaking work during the second world war at Bletchley Park. After the war he joined the computing laboratory at Manchester University where he worked on the first computers.
Rob Cotton, chief executive of Manchester-based IT security firm NCC, said: “R&D in the technology sector is hugely important if we are to keep up on the global stage and combat the rapidly evolving and sophisticated world of cyber crime.
“The announcement of the Turing Institute and the £42m pound support package is a good initiative and if executed correctly should help stimulate cutting-edge technology research and ensure the UK keeps up in the global tech race. With its history of technology innovation, Manchester would be the perfect location for it.”
Mark Evans, commercial director at Bolton-based IT support firm Imerja, said: “This will greatly facilitate technological advances and help push the UK’s tech sector to the forefront of global research. The North West is well placed to host this institute thanks to its strong infrastructure, close network of innovative tech start ups and world-class universities.
“This is a huge opportunity for the technology industry in the region to take advantage of its existing assets and play a leading role in the global effort to drive R&D in the tech sector. Fingers crossed things come our way.”
Turing, who was gay, was convicted of indecency in 1952, and as a result lost his security clearance with GCHQ, the successor to Bletchley Park.
He killed himself at his house in Wilmslow in 1954 and was only given an official pardon by the Government in December 2013.
