The food economy is worth over £100bn to the UK each year, employing over 3.7 million people. It's vital, therefore, that the sector invests to stay on top of the various changes and innovations affecting the industry. The recent launch of the new Digital Innovation Centre at Surrey should go some way towards supporting such efforts.

The centre, which was funded by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership, is hosted at our School of Veterinary Medicine and aims to promote new approaches to the collection and use of data. It will work with commercial organisations, partners and researchers to hopefully generate significant inward investment and see many new jobs created.

Professor Lisa Roberts, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, said: “The University is delighted with this award, which will enable us to create a centre to promote digital innovation in animal health.



“It recognises our strong collaborative work between the University’s 5G Innovation Centre, CoDE at the Surrey Business School and our new School of Veterinary Medicine.



“The centre will reinforce our existing links with The Pirbright Institute and APHA and will also be of significant interest to the commercial sector. It is a further step to realise our ambition to create a true centre of excellence in Surrey for veterinary research.”

Excellence in animal health

The hope is that the centre will form a significant element of an internationally recognised cluster of animal health expertise in the area. It will build upon the strong work already done by the Enterprise M3 LEP and create an attractive proposition for investment in animal health, drug discovery and innovation.

It will also empower and facilitiate collaboration between partners, industry and SMEs, with for instance, partnerships emerging between small and large companies to enable fresh ideas to get to market faster.

Geoff French CBE, Chair of the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Board, said: “This is an exciting, collaborative project which will help researchers to work more effectively with businesses.



“The projects will help secure funding from the public and private sector – as well as creating jobs, encouraging innovation in the animal health field and driving economic growth in the area.



“We have fantastic research taking place and these projects we’ve funded will help establish the area as an internationally-recognised leader in this field.”

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