Southampton University in £4m photonics boost for data centres

July 13, 2017 by
Filed under: Collaboration 

The University of Southampton is set to benefit from two major investments in research partnerships that will strengthen the links between the UK’s research base, industry and business partners.  Both investments show the pivotal importance of engineering and the physical sciences to the country’s continued development as a global research and innovation leader.

The first is a set of new ‘Prosperity Partnerships’ which will receive £31m of government funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).  This is matched by a further £36m from partner organisations in cash or in-kind contributions, plus £11m from universities’ funds, totalling £78m in all.

Ten universities will lead on 11 projects that range from future networks for digital infrastructure to offshore wind.  Over five years, the University of Southampton’s Silicon Photonics Group (part of the Optoelectronics Research Centre – ORC) will receive £2.7m from the EPSRC, working with its partner Rockley Photonics – who will contribute a further £2m.  The University will provide an additional £148,000.

The money will support research into the use of silicon photonics technology within communications networks in data centres.  The aim is to improve their speed and energy efficiency by changing the datacentre architecture.  Silicon photonics is an emerging technology which uses optical signals to transfer data between computers, servers and the wider world.

“Dr Andrew Rickman, Chief Executive Officer of Rockley Photonics, is the world’s leading entrepreneur in this field. We have a long history of working together in many different ways, since 1989, and this collaboration is almost the perfect fit for the remit of the Prosperity Partnerships – a truly mutual relationship between university and industry,” said Graham Reed, Professor of Silicon Photonics at Southampton. “Our expertise and facilities offer a unique environment for silicon photonics research and innovation. One of the world’s most pressing problems is how to handle our relentless desire for more data, and we are striving to make significant improvements. The Prosperity Partnership is the perfect vehicle for our work with Rockley Photonics; it enables a relatively young, growing company to invest in university research at an early stage.”

The second EPSRC investment is £60m for 33 universities to advance their Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA).  The University of Southampton will receive almost £3m for IAAs over three years.

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