BTexact announces new venture with The Cambridge-MIT InstituteAnother famous academic organisation, CMI, comes to BTexact Technologies' Adastral ParkBTexact Technologies, BT's advanced research and technology business, announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI). CMI is the DTI-backed strategic alliance between the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to create a new business and management research presence at Adastral Park, BTexact Technologies' science park at Martlesham near Ipswich.
In conjunction with faculty members and visiting researchers from MIT and the University of Cambridge, the new facility will offer a number of opportunities to both MBA students and senior business executives alike. CMI was established with DTI and Treasury backing in July 2000 with one major objective being to improve the economic performance of the UK in areas of competitiveness, productivity and entrepreneurship by funding joint projects between the two universities. BT has been one of its key supporters, and in October 2000 signed an agreement to invest £2.5 million in a number of collaborative research projects with CMI over a five year period. Today's announcement about the new venture for CMI@Adastral Park is a further example of strengthening links between academe and industry. CMI@Adastral Park will play a key role in accelerating delivery of the benefits of the CMI programme to UK business through seminars, conferences, and business workshops as well as long-distance interactive learning courses targeted at top executives.
Focused workshops under this collaborative venture will include topics such as how IT can change business, internet-based supply chain management, technology road mapping, how to grow a high tech business, the changing nature of the workplace and disruptive technologies. It is intended that the new presence will also offer postgraduate student courses and diplomas in business entrepreneurship, business development and business planning. Initially, the CMI@Adastral Park team will be based within BTexact's budding entrepreneur and incubation programme, Brightstar. Research conducted by the team will focus on entrepreneurship and new business models. Brightstar offers the perfect environment for this type of research. Brightstar companies work hand in hand with venture capitalists and other partners to create businesses from the most promising research concepts and ideas. Professor Alan Windle, executive director of CMI at Cambridge, said: "CMI is delighted to announce this further alliance with BT at Adastral Park. This project is another example of CMI working with UK business to deliver expertise in competitiveness, productivity and entrepreneurship to the UK at large." Professor John Vander Sande, executive director of CMI at MIT, said: "This closer collaboration with BT highlights the importance of university-industry interaction. CMI@Adastral Park is a means of educating a new generation of globally-oriented leaders on both sides of the Atlantic." Stewart Davies, CEO of BTexact Technologies, said: "BTexact Technologies has worked very closely with CMI in order to set up CMI@Adastral Park. We see projects like this as an essential investment for the future of world-leading research and technology at Adastral Park. Joint ventures such as CMI@Adastral Park and the recently opened UCL@Adastral Park are an effective way to engender a neutral research environment and act as a catalyst for co-operation, creativity and innovation. It is important to have a mix of teaching and research going on in parallel so that the content of the research can feed material into both the courses on offer and any other potential spin-off commercial ventures. Such collaborations can only enrich the learning experience for all concerned." ENDS Editors' notesAbout BTexact Technologies
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