Supporting joint ventures with business

Queen’s University Belfast has invested around £3 million of its QR funding to support a joint venture with Wrightbus, a leading manufacturer of buses, to establish the ‘Wright-Tech Centre’ – a new research facility at Queen’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The Centre promotes research and advanced engineering to facilitate the creation and development of technologies suitable for today’s bus industry, particularly as these needs become increasingly complex.

The University’s QR funding, along with over £300,000 of capital refurbishment costs, attracted investment of more than £6 million from Wrightbus and led to an additional grant of over £3 million from Innovate UK.

New permanent premises for the Wright-Tech Centre have been developed within the Queen’s campus, which opened in Summer 2017. Over the initial five-year life-span of the Centre a team of 25-30 engineers and PhD students will deliver a range of research projects including drive cycle modelling, thermal modelling, vibration related fatigue and lifecycle analysis, including topics such as cost of manufacturing, maintenance and operation. Future steering and suspension based research and development are also covered. Ensuring that students have the opportunity to work alongside Wrightbus colleagues to develop technical, research and employability skills is also central to the establishment of the Centre.

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