Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/433487
In seeking an academic partnership to enhance its fundamental understanding of advanced materials, BP recognised that no single university could do leading-edge research in all the areas of 'advanced materials'. This quickly led to the development of the idea of using a 'hub and spoke' model to harness the collective expertise of a number of universities. BP identified Manchester as the hub and Cambridge, Imperial and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign were invited to be the spokes. Each of the member universities brings a distinctive capability, and collaboration between them and BP leverages the potential opportunities considerably and enables the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts. The role of the hub is to act as a co-ordinating point for all the research activities; to provide connections with leading-edge science in the field; to provide education facilities for BP scientists; to provide outreach activities more broadly around advanced materials; and to have an academic director who would provide the right quality and ethos of leadership for the whole centre. Manchester was chosen as the hub because it was best able to fulfill this overarching role. The selection of the city as the centre of this project is also a reflection of the University's strength and longevity of its relationship with BP, based particularly on its research strengths in corrosion and materials characterisation, which forms a fundamental part of the research activity in the ICAM. The ICAM will also act as a bridge to small companies for BP Ventures and in the development of the supply chain for advanced materials. BP is committed to investing $100m into ICAM over a 10-year period, with core funding to run the hub partly funded by Manchester and partly by BP. The governance structure and a programme management board to oversee the programme are drawn from the four partner universities and BP. www.bp.co.uk and www.icam-online.org BP - International Centre for Advanced Materials (ICAM) 30 CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 ■ TALENT ■ CULTURE PLACE ■ HISTORY ■ SUPPORT ■ OPEN/INDUSTRY ORIENTATION ■ GLOBAL LINKS ■ RESEARCH Why Manchester? Chart illustrates the factors that influenced Manchester's role as the hub of the BP ICAM programme