Cardiff University has unveiled proposals to erect a new campus of four new buildings in the Welsh capital, investing £300m ($480m). The announcement was made by vice-chancellor Colin Riordan at the university’s inaugural edition of its Innovation Fast Forward event in early October 2014.
The university is referring to its plans as the Cardiff Innovation System. The buildings would include a technology transfer office called Translational Research Facility, an Innovation Centre to support startups created by students, faculty and public, and a Research Institute for Compound Semiconductor Technology. In what would be a world-first, the fourth building, dubbed Spark, would contain a social sciences research park.
Business cases are being developed at the moment, and will then be brought to Cardiff’s governing body, the university’s council, for approval. The official opening of the Hadyn Ellis Building, originally dubbed Gateway, on the same site was celebrated in November 2013, and the university’s considers this building the entrance to the new campus.
Colin Riordan, vice-chancellor at Cardiff University, said: “Working with the Welsh and UK governments, local authorities such as Cardiff Council, the NHS in Wales, business partners and civic society, Cardiff Innovation System can establish the university, the city and Wales as international leaders in innovation. Cardiff Innovation system will help us demonstrate the relevance of our work to the communities we serve, better connect industry, business, government and charities with our academics, and nurture student entrepreneurship and grassroots business development.”
