Newcastle University New £30m Research Centre (NCID)

A brand-new National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) was confirmed to be taking place at Newcastle University. The NCID is expected to provide world-class services and facilities. This will help at developing the skills needed to solve real problems by using data science advances.

Britain's Digital Strategy aims at increasing its global competitiveness in the digital data market to attract the next internet giant to be placed in the UK. A part of the NICD aims is to also quicken innovation and provide technical and practical data skills that leading businesses thrive on. Economically speaking, it was perceived last year that this project will position the UK as a global leader in innovation through data, and it could add up to £241 billion to the UK economy between 2015 and 2020, approximately £40 billion a year. The project is expected to create more than 4,000 job opportunities.

The government and Newcastle University have teamed up to launch the NCID as part of the Northern Powerhouse. The Newcastle-based centre's funding plans were confirmed by the minister of digital, Matt Hancock. He said: “We’re determined to unlock the huge potential of big data which could add billions of pounds to our economy - from powering price comparison sites to improving the flow of transport around cities.

“Our new National Innovation Centre for Data will help us achieve this aim by making sure the skills and talent in our universities is being transferred into industry and the public sector.

“It will not only spark innovation among the next generation of tech experts but also help businesses across the whole country capitalise on the immense value of data.”