BT, Huawei to Base Joint R&D Group at Cambridge

BT and Huawei have announced a new five-year initiative aimed at establishing a joint research and collaboration group at the University of Cambridge.

The research project aims to bring together experts from the BT Labs, the Huawei R&D Team and academics from the University of Cambridge to explore new technologies which have the potential to unlock economic benefits for UK businesses and organizations, such as reducing the cost of network infrastructure and boosting operational performance.

Backed by up to $33.1 million in funding and contributions over the next five years, the group is expected to focus on projects relating to photonics, digital and access network infrastructure and media technologies, alongside work aimed at enhancing the societal impact of communications technologies.

The projects are also expected to focus on the critical role that new technologies can play in delivering positive impacts to society, such as those aimed at reducing inequality, particularly for those groups excluded from digital transformation and using ICT technologies to improve resilience of communities to climate change.

Finally, the funding is also intended to support longer-term, ‘blue skies’ research projects being progressed by postgraduate students at the University which are focused on generating benefits for industry and society at large. All these projects will be assessed by an Academic Advisory Board to be made up of senior representatives from each of the parties.

The new research and collaboration team – likely to be based at the University’s Maxwell Center – is expected to kick off research activity in the first half of 2018 with five to ten researchers from BT and Huawei working alongside their University collaborators.

Both BT and Huawei have a long history of working with Cambridge on research projects. Researchers at the BT Labs in Adastral Park recently collaborated with the University’s Cavendish Lab on a project to assess the potential theoretical speeds that can be delivered over the UK’s access network infrastructure. Huawei and the University of Cambridge have been working together for seven years on range of research projects including media, communications and other technologies.