Defence Minister visits Imperial College Translation and Innovation Hub
The Minister for Defence Procurement has been learning about Imperial College’s £2 billion White City Campus, and how it offers new opportunities for defence and security innovation.
Stuart Andrew MP visited the world top ten university’s Translation and Innovation Hub (I-HUB) to meet with Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) officials and Professor Neil Alford and Dr Deeph Chana from Imperial College London.
The Defence Minister was shown Imperial’s Incubator facility, which contains lab space for a variety of young start-up companies focused on science and technology, as well as the College’s Invention Rooms, home to the Advanced Hackspace. The Hackspace provides a facility for 3D printing, digital manufacturing, woodwork and metalwork and a bio-lab which is now available for DASA to use for hackathon type events and competitions.
DASA took up residency at Central Working White City’s I-HUB and established a partnership with Imperial College London in July 2018. The partnership allows DASA to access new and innovative start-ups and academics from a variety of disciplines, and promotes collaborative working between the Government, academia and the private sector.
Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said:
This is a wonderful example of how we are utilising DASA to reach out to partners not traditionally associated with Defence, ensuring we find and fund the best innovations for UK defence and security and keep ahead of our adversaries.
Professor Alford and Dr Chana explained to the Minister the plans for a defence and security floor at the I-HUB, aimed at co-locating defence and security industry with academia and other partners.