ICT solutions provider Huawei has announced a new five-year collaboration with Imperial College London, aimed at growing the UK’s data science and innovation ecosystem.
The agreement – reportedly worth £5m – was officially announced today by Huawei vice president and London office head Victor Zhang during the fourth annual Times Higher Education Academic Salon.
As part of the partnership, Huawei will provide a 5G indoor wireless network and AI Cloud platform at one of Imperial’s campuses.
The facility will support the research work of Imperial’s Data Science Institute (DSI); the Leonardo Centre; the College’s Enterprise Lab, and the wider SME community that Imperial collaborates with.
Professor Ian Walmsley, provost of Imperial College, said: “We work to be at the cutting-edge of discoveries and technologies for societal benefit.
“Our partnership with Huawei has already yielded considerable benefits, and we look forward to expanding this collaboration further.
“Huawei’s expertise in wireless technology will help our researchers, students and partner enterprises to lead the next generation of digital innovations.”
The announcement builds on almost a decade of collaboration between Huawei and Imperial College.
This latest partnership will also see Huawei become the lead sponsor of Imperial’s Venture Catalyst Competition to support student entrepreneurialism and further support the build out of the UK’s innovation ecosystem.
The Chinese company will also becoming a founding partner of the Leonardo Centre – a new initiative at Imperial College Business School that explores and experiments with new ways of doing business in order to regenerate economies, communities and natural environments around the world.
Zhang said: “We are pleased to be playing our role in helping to create an environment where research can explore the boundaries of 5G and AI technologies and rethink what’s possible in the 5G and AI world.
“We are delighted to provide our world-leading technologies and experiences to an academic partner to support innovation and the creation of ecosystem.
“It is important for industry and academia to work together for growing the economic and social value as a whole.
