UCL and BT sign business agreement

UCL has further strengthened its links with BT by signing a new partnership which will see the company extend its research interests beyond traditional telecoms.

The new initiative paves the way for joint research into fields as diverse as healthcare and transport studies.

The agreement, which names UCL as a Strategic University Partner, will see UCL and BT working together to solve real-world problems. The partnership will improve knowledge transfer from academia to business and encourage innovation by closer collaboration with the science base.

Chris Pitt, Dean of Engineering, said: "The agreement between UCL and BT is another exceptional and visionary union, which will be extremely beneficial and productive. The business partnership with BT will help UCL find long term commercial outlets for its research, as well as ensuring its ongoing industrial relevance. UCL is committed to this ongoing alliance and we look forward to a long and successful collaboration with BT."

Mike Carr, director of research and venturing at BT said: "BT is delighted to be signing this agreement with UCL which will build on our current foundation of strategic research projects. In the 21st century, technology is moving faster than ever before and it is essential for BT's growth and success to tap into some of the best intellectual resources available and these can be found at UCL."

UCL's relationship with BT was cemented in 2001 when UCL's Adastral Park campus was established at BT's research park in Ipswich. The campus is a multi-disciplinary postgraduate research centre which primarily works in the broad areas of digital multimedia; computer vision; andnetworking. Current areas of joint research between UCL and BT include virtual reality systems, network performance and architecture, image processing and retrieval and information security.

Image: Mr Simon Maddison (UCL Business), Professor Hugh Griffiths (Electronic & Electrical Engineering), Professor Christopher Pitt (Electronic & Electrical Engineering), Mr Mike Carr, BT, Mr Alan Grundy (UCL Business), Professor Anthony Finkelstein (Computer Science).