HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has officially opened the new Hartree Centre building at Sci-Tech Daresbury during a visit to the world-leading campus.

DARESBURY, England, May 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the opening of a new building for the collaborative research facility at The Hartree Centre in Daresbury. The building, opened by the Duke of York, is the latest evolution of the long-running collaboration between Sci-Tech Daresbury and IBM.

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The Hartree Centre is a high performance computing and data analytics research facility founded by the UK government in collaboration with IBM. The new building brings together under one roof staff from the Hartree Centre, IBM, the University of Liverpool's Virtual Engineering Centre and Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Scientific Computing Division, and will firmly enhance the capabilities and close collaborations that are at the heart of the centre.

As part of the STFC, the Hartree Centre's mission is to transform the competitiveness of UK industry through high performance computing, big data and cognitive technologies, built on an ethos of collaboration and partner working.

The new campus will be focused on research in high performance computing and data centric Cognitive computing with goal of developing technology to encourage economic improvement with companies in the UK.

His Royal Highness, who is patron of Sci-Tech Daresbury, devotes much of his time to promoting the awareness of British science, technology and engineering expertise.

The Hartree Centre works with academic researchers and companies in a wide range of industries. One notable collaboration between IBM and Alder Hey Children's Hospital is creating the UK's first 'cognitive hospital', using the IBM Watson cognitive computing platform to improve the patient journey and experience.

John Downes, group managing director of Langtree and chairman of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture company, said: "The Hartree Centre is at the heart of our ambition, helping to facilitate collaboration to maximise the impact of our research base to enable business innovation and ultimately societal transformation.

Over recent years the Hartree Centre has achieved many successes and enabled many projects and as it moves into phase three it will increase the momentum to ensure science, innovation and industrial strength are intrinsically linked.

The new building, and this new phase in the collaborative relationship with IBM is a big step forward. Co-locating researchers and technical teams from both organisations and others means the Hartree Centre's capabilities to innovate and help UK businesses take advantage of home-grown technical advances are further secured.

The Duke of York's visit is a reflection of his commitment to the sector and to the collaborative efforts at the Hartree Centre. We are delighted that he has taken so much time to understand how regional SMEs are working successfully with universities and big corporations to advance their ideas and enhance the innovation culture."

"IBM greatly values the close partnership and collaboration with the teams at Sci-Tech Daresbury and the Government's Science and Technology Facilities Council," said Bill Kelleher, Chief Executive of IBM UK & Ireland. "The opening of this centre, where IBM research staff will work alongside researchers from other organisations to develop tools for companies to use as part of a push towards technological leadership, is evidence of the quality of work that has already come out of this partnership. Working with our colleagues at Sci-Tech Daresbury, we will find ways for UK businesses to take advantage of cognitive data centric computing techniques, new OpenPOWER based systems, advanced modelling and simulation, open innovation approaches and data analysis tools to enable growth and leadership on a global scale."

During the visit the His Royal Highness heard from Hartree Centre users and observed demonstrations of the centre's projects and capabilities.

Sci-Tech Daresbury is a private-public joint-venture partnership between developer Langtree, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Halton Borough Council.

Photos are available here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm1Epf7Q

For further information:

IBM:
Lucy Linthwaite
External Relations Leader
IBM UK and Ireland
+44 (0) 20 7021 8911
lucy.linthwaite@uk.ibm.com

Notes to Editors:

Sci-Tech Daresbury is a world class location for high-tech business and leading edge science based in Cheshire. It provides a unique environment for innovation and business growth, with knowledge sharing, collaboration and networking.

Home to the ground-breaking STFC Daresbury Laboratory as well as over 100 high-tech companies, the site was originally established in 2006. In December 2010, a new private-public joint-venture partnership was created to spearhead the longer-term development of the campus. Partners in the private-public joint-venture partnership are developers, Langtree, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and Halton Borough Council.

The campus was granted Enterprise Zone status in April 2012. Enterprise Zone status allows business rates to be reinvested in the campus, potentially creating up to 15,000 skilled jobs and providing funding for new specialist office, laboratory and technical space. Enterprise Zone status will also allow the campus to leverage more than £150 million in private sector investment.

For more information visit: http://www.sci-techdaresbury.com

The Hartree Centre was formed in 2012 and awarded government funding to strengthen UK competitiveness in areas including big data and energy efficient computing. The Hartree Centre is home to some of the most technically advanced high performance computing, data analytics, machine learning technologies and experts in the UK. From early stage SMEs to international corporations, it works with industry and the research community to address real life challenges and accelerate the adoption of high performance technologies, delivering transformative gains in performance, productivity and time to market. The Hartree Centre is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) one of seven UK Research Councils and one of Europe's largest multi-disciplinary research organisations. https://www.hartree.stfc.ac.uk

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SOURCE: IBM