Recently launched, the Poynting Research Institute at Birmingham aims to provide the infrastructure and facilities to bridge the gap between research and technology and thereby generate novel and innovative solutions to real world problems for both industry and government.
The not-for-profit Poynting Institute will undertake low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) contract research itself and also in collaboration with commercial entities. Funding will be sought from Government and Industry and will be underpinned by Research Council Funding and other public sector funding.
To facilitate the collaboration with industry, the technology company, QinetiQ has entered into a collaboration agreement with the University. QinetiQ will be seconding a number of staff (part-time) to the University and will also contribute to the Governance of the Institute and Project oversight. Poynting’s first Director is Professor Paul Cannon FREng, who is also a Senior Fellow at QinetiQ.
Poynting has been initiated with two themes PoyntingSpace, initially addressing Space Weather and its impact on the operation of Radio Systems and PoyntingAutonomy, initially addressing the autonomous operation of air and land vehicles.