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Almost £4m has been awarded to the University of Salford's North of England Robotics Innovation Centre in a bid to accelerate innovation and research in the industry.

A £3.6m Research England Development (RED) funding from Research England, part of º£½ÇÊÓƵ Research and Innovation, has been received ahead of the completion of the new centre which was announced last year and is part of the £2.5bn Crescent Masterplan.

Dr Georgina Harris, director of engineering at The University of Salford, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded this Research England Development funding reaffirming our reputation for knowledge and expertise in robotics and automation.

"The award will support us with the recruitment of robotics specialists, invest in specialist facilities for the centre and enable us to play a pivotal role in the technology transfer from innovative research to industrial deployment.

"The North of England Robotics Innovation Centre is a model example of collaboration. Its creation is timely, taking place when the need for innovation in robotics and automation has never been more important to support the recovery of º£½ÇÊÓƵ industry from the challenges faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The new centre will provide SMEs with a hub where they can access world-leading academics, where they can work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions and where they can test and validate these technologies in preparation for real-world deployment."

The RED Fund commits up to £27m in annual funding and supports projects that aid the development and interaction of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's higher education research and knowledge exchange (KE) activity in line with Government and º£½ÇÊÓƵRI priorities.