£9m Funding for Innovation Academy

University College Falmouth (UCF) has secured £9 million of funding for its new Academy of Innovation & Research (AIR).

AIR enables UCF's staff and students to work with businesses on large scale development projects. It offers opportunities to engage with challenges and opportunities including:

·          New applications for superfast broadband

·          Health and wellbeing

·          Sustainable transport

At AIR's core will be a design innovation centre, a primarily open-plan building enabling researchers and business development staff to work with businesses in flexible project teams.

The Convergence Programme is investing £6.74 million in the project, while the South West RDA's single pot fund is contributing £1.554 million, and the Higher Education Funding Council £693k.

Speaking to Business Cornwall, UCF's rector and chief executive, Professor Anne Carlisle said: 'AIR will help businesses to secure commercial advantage in the two spheres that are so significant to Cornwall's economic and social future. Building on the significant investment that UCF has received so far, AIR will really make a difference to how we engage with businesses both now and in the longer term. AIR will not only create jobs in Cornwall but will also stimulate the growth of innovative businesses in the county.'

The South West RDA's executive director Suzanne Bond, who will next month assume the chief executive post at Cornwall Development Company, said: 'This investment is one of the last pieces in the Tremough jigsaw. It will enable UCF to develop a world class campus for the creative industries and has the potential to transform Cornwall's economy in the coming years and decades.'