The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus is partnering with M-AeroTech Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) in conjunction with with leading public universities Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), to bring its expertise in aerospace to the Asia Aerospace City (AAC), which launched its Research and Technology (R&T) Centre in Malaysia on 6 November 2014.
UNMC entered into a partnership to conduct research and provide vocational training in the area of aerospace. The deal was inked between officials from The University of Nottingham, AMIC and MARA at Farnborough International Air Show,UK in July this year.
“The entire research initiative by the Centre amounts to RM15 million, offering our experience as a global aerospace centre of excellence through a substantial commitment of postgraduate scholarships and academic staff expertise” said Professor Andy Chan, academic lead on the project from UNMC.
According to Professor Graham Kendall, Vice Provost (Research and Knowledge Transfer) at UNMC, aerospace is a major research priority at UNMC and there is vast potential in this area globally; in Malaysia aerospace is earmarked as National Key Economic Area.”
“Most of our work around the area of aerospace is related to the centre which was launched yesterday and there is a keen interest from a range of other funding agencies to work with us,” Professor Kendall said.
The partnership with UNMC provides AMIC access to technical expertise and state of the art equipment for the centre and as a research partners, access to aerospace experts at UNMC and The University of Nottingham, UK. Research projects currently being assessed include reconfigurable tooling, robotic systems and the development of flexible manufacturing cells.
“We are proud to be part of this milestone in Malaysian aerospace history by establishing a global centre where we will be a major contributor through knowledge transfer from researchers in Malaysia and the UK,” said Professor Christine Ennew.
“As a global university in Malaysia, we are well in place to support such initiatives and contribute to Malaysia’s aspiration to develop a leading-edge research and development which will underpin the country’s ambitions to be the leading regional hub for aerospace” Professor Ennew said.
Asia Aerospace City (AAC), launched its Research and Technology (R&T) Centre on November 6, 2014 by both Joint Chairs of AMIC, Professor Tan Sri Zakri Abdul Hamid, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Jean Botti, Chief Technical Officer of Airbus Group.
Among the attendees at the event include Datuk Ibrahim bin Ahmad, Director General of MARA; Professor Richard Parker, Director of Research & Technology of Rolls Royce; Group and AMIC Director; Shamsul Kamar Abu Samah, Chief Executive Officer of AMIC; Zulfikri Osman, Chief Executive Officer M-AeroTech; Naguib Mohd Nor, Chief Technical Officer of M-AeroTech; His Excellency Christophe Penot. French Ambassador to Malaysia; Professor Christine Ennew, CEO & Provost of UNMC and Professor Graham Kendall, Vice Provost, (Research and Knowledge Transfer) UNMC.
The R&T Centre is located in German-Malaysian Institute (GMI) in Bangi, about 25 km from Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
Thumbnail Image caption:
(from left to right): Professor Ian Harrison, Dean of Faculty of Engineering, UNMC; Ben Sumner, Business Development Manager, University of Nottingham, UK; Professor Christine Ennew; Professor Graham Kendall; Professor Nicholas Warrior, University of Nottingham, UK; Professor Andrew Chan and Dr Lau Phei-Li and Dr Amin Malek Mohammadi, Faculty of Engineering, UNMC.
Posted on 11th November 2014