Professional - Marconi to splash cash on Cambridge comms research

UK technology group Marconi is to spend more than £40m over the next six years to establish a Cambridge University-based centre of communications.

The Marconi Centre for Communications will be built in west Cambridge and is due to be completed in 2002. It will develop internet and data transmission technologies.

A Cambridge University spokesman said the centre will carry out research and become a gateway to expert advice and training for UK companies. It will also set up a series of websites to spread its research.

In addition to the building costs, more than £18m will be donated to the university's research funds, and a further £12m will underwrite a Marconi embedded research lab.Marconi's chief executive Lord Simpson said: "We recognise that an unequivocal commitment to research is essential if Britain is to maintain its strong position in the new knowledge economy."

Marconi's spending - the largest single donation to the University - will establish new academic posts, including a Marconi Professorship.

"This is magnificent news for the Cambridge research scene," said professor Roger Needham, managing director of Microsoft Research. "Microsoft came here because of the lively and buoyant research atmosphere, and Marconi's initiative will enhance that atmosphere."

Over the last two decades the university has made a series of breakthroughs in mobile communications, global positioning systems, internet communications and fibre optics.