XClose

UCL News

Home
Menu

UCL partners with culture, research and media organisations to launch the Knowledge Quarter

4 December 2014

UCL has partnered with 34 academic, cultural, research, scientific and media organisations based in Kings Cross, Euston and Bloomsbury to form the Knowledge Quarter, launched by the Chancellor George Osborne today at the British Library.

Quad in Autumn

The members, which range from the British Museum and the University of the Arts London to the Digital Catapult, Wellcome Trust, The Guardian and the Aga Khan University, as well as UCL, will work together to share their information, ideas, research and innovation.

The aim of the Knowledge Quarter is to make the outstanding facilities, collections and expertise of its members understood, available and used as widely as possible for the benefit of researchers, creative people, students and the local community.

As well as established organisations, the Knowledge Quarter includes The Francis Crick Institute, now under construction, which will be a leading global centre for medical research, and Google, which is to build its new UK headquarters in King's Cross.

Clustered around King's Cross, the Euston Road and Bloomsbury is an incredible range of knowledge resources and expertise, ranging from the world's earliest books and manuscripts to the latest fashion and creative designs and cutting-edge medical research.

Together, members of the Knowledge Quarter employ over 30,000 people, turn over more than £2bn, work with 3,500 volunteers, and serve more than 8m visitors annually.

The Knowledge Quarter is governed by a Board of eight organisations as well as UCL: the British Library, Art Fund, the British Museum, Camden Council, Guardian News and Media, The Royal College of GPs, the Wellcome Trust and the University of the Arts.  The other partner organisations make up a Steering Group that manages the Knowledge Quarter's activities.

"London leads the way in supporting the UK's knowledge economy," said Deputy London Mayor for Business & Enterprise, Kit Malthouse. "I am proud that within our great capital city we have leading international organisations that are coming together, through the Knowledge Quarter, to find ways that they can support growth and innovation through research."