Aberystwyth to host new £10.4m Centre of Excellence for Visualisation

Artists Impressions of the new building

Wednesday 29 March, 2006
Aberystwyth to host new £10.4m Centre of Excellence for Visualisation
Professor Noel Lloyd, Vice Chancellor and Principal of UWA and Andrew Davies, Minister for Economic Development and Transport, today (Wednesday 29 March) announced the creation of a new £10.4m Centre of Excellence for Visualisation which is to be based on Penglais campus.

Supported with over £6million from the Welsh Assembly Government, as well as additional funds from industrial partners Silicon Graphics Inc and Sun Microsystems, the Centre will be housed in a purpose-built facility featuring a range of display theatres and workshop facilities unequalled in the UK. The Centre will provide a world-class virtual reality environment in which to solve complex problems and create new products through dynamic 3D visualisation.

Facilities will include:
• Domed 3-D reality theatre and a Fakespace CURV immersive environment, a large curved screen facility
• Fully immersive and interactive projection produced with Fakespace Powerwall displays 
• Powered by Silicon Graphics Inc Prism Extreme high powered computing equipment for processing large data sets
• Sun Microsystems high powered computing equipment, and workstations for a personal virtual reality experience
• Fully managed facilities including offices, workshops, and workstations for individuals and groups of Visualisation users

The work of building and equipping the new centre is expected to start in July of this year and be completed by September 2007. 

Professor Lloyd said:
“This is a significant new development for UWA, which will establish the University as a centre of national importance in this field and at the forefront of visualisation technologies. It will enhance the University's profile in research and development and contribute to the economic development of Mid and West Wales and of Wales as a whole."

“The University is an important force for economic development in mid Wales in its role as a large employer, in training a skilled workforce, and in helping local companies enhance and develop their use of technology. This new centre will make a significant contribution to developing the knowledge economy, lead to the creation of a large number of high value and skilled jobs (118), and provide a state of the art research facility that will be able to respond to the needs of small and medium sized companies and academic researchers alike.”

Welcoming the announcement, Andrew Davies said: “This is an exciting project that highlights how Wales is at the forefront of technological research and development on a global stage. The new Centre underpins the Welsh Assembly Government's vision and commitment to delivering strong and sustainable economic growth built around a highly skilled and knowledge-based workforce through innovation and advanced technology.

“The Centre will put Wales firmly on the map and will lead to new and exciting employment and investment opportunities in this part of Mid Wales.”

What is Visualisation?
Seeing is believing! The new Virtual Reality technologies are ideal for a wide range of visualisation applications; for providing a new way of quickly identifying solutions to complex problems; and for designing new products without expensive and time-consuming prototyping. They allow users to visualise a new design, permit high-resolution “walk-through” animations, and to interact in real time with the model. 

In addition to research and development activity carried out in conjunction with existing university departments the centre will offer a range of services targeted at Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s) in Wales. These will be delivered by a dedicated team specifically recruited to meet the needs of both the commercial and public sectors.

Over £6million of Welsh Assembly Government funding is being invested into the project, including £4.4million of European Objective 1 funding.

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