Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM research collaborative campus at Hartree Centre receives royal seal of approval

Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM today announced the opening of a new building for the collaborative research facility at the Hartree Centre.

The Hartree Centre building, opened by the Duke of York, is the latest evolution of the long-running collaboration between Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM.

The Hartree Centre is a high-performance computing and data analytics research facility founded by the UK government in collaboration with IBM. The new building brings together under one roof staff from the Hartree Centre, IBM, the University of Liverpool’s Virtual Engineering Centre and Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Scientific Computing Division, and will firmly enhance the capabilities and close collaborations that are at the heart of the centre.

As part of the STFC, the Hartree Centre’s mission is to transform the competitiveness of UK industry through high-performance computing, big data and cognitive technologies, built on an ethos of collaboration and partner working.

The new campus will be focused on research in high-performance computing and data-centric Cognitive computing with goal of developing technology to encourage economic improvement with companies in the UK.

His Royal Highness, who is patron of Sci-Tech Daresbury, devotes much of his time to promoting the awareness of British science, technology and engineering expertise.

The Hartree Centre works with academic researchers and companies in a wide range of industries. One notable collaboration between IBM and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital is creating the UK’s first ‘cognitive hospital’, using the IBM Watson cognitive computing platform to improve the patient journey and experience.

John Downes, group managing director of Langtree and chairman of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture company, said: “The Hartree Centre is at the heart of our ambition, helping to facilitate collaboration to maximise the impact of our research base to enable business innovation and ultimately societal transformation.

“Over recent years the Hartree Centre has achieved many successes and enabled many projects and as it moves into phase three it will increase the momentum to ensure science, innovation and industrial strength are intrinsically linked.

“The new building, and this new phase in the collaborative relationship with IBM is a big step forward. Co-locating researchers and technical teams from both organisations and others means the Hartree Centre’s capabilities to innovate and help UK businesses take advantage of home-grown technical advances are further secured.

“The Duke of York’s visit is a reflection of his commitment to the sector and to the collaborative efforts at the Hartree Centre. We are delighted that he has taken so much time to understand how regional SMEs are working successfully with universities and big corporations to advance their ideas and enhance the innovation culture.”

“IBM greatly values the close partnership and collaboration with the teams at Sci-Tech Daresbury and the Government’s Science and Technology Facilities Council,” said Bill Kelleher, Chief Executive of IBM UK & Ireland. “The opening of this centre, where IBM research staff will work alongside researchers from other organisations to develop tools for companies to use as part of a push towards technological leadership, is evidence of the quality of work that has already come out of this partnership.  Working with our colleagues at Sci-Tech Daresbury, we will find ways for UK businesses to take advantage of cognitive data centric computing techniques, new OpenPOWER based systems, advanced modelling and simulation, open innovation approaches and data analysis tools to enable growth and leadership on a global scale.”

During the visit the His Royal Highness heard from Hartree Centre users and observed demonstrations of the centre’s projects and capabilities.

Sci-Tech Daresbury, located close to both Manchester and Liverpool, is internationally known for the quality of its work and is home to scientists and engineers from across the academic research community as well as private industry. Areas of study include accelerator science, bio-medicine, physics, chemistry, materials, engineering and computational science, as researchers explore new areas of science and new technologies – and facilities stretch from a VR/AR lab to a particle accelerator.