Official opening for the Ron Cooke Hub
Posted on 15 July 2011
The opening will be performed by Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), on Friday, 22 July at 5pm.
Our investment in world-class facilities will act as a magnet for inward investment to the city and region
Professor Brian Cantor
Sir Alan will also deliver a major public lecture, “Meeting the new world challenge”. He will outline the key challenges and opportunities faced by the Higher Education sector as it moves through a period of transition, and will explain the steps HEFCE is taking to support universities and colleges in addressing these.
The opening event will also feature the chance to participate in interactive tours of the innovative spaces in the Ron Cooke Hub, including the unique 3Sixty audio-visual Immersive Demonstration Space. Members of the student entrepreneurs club York Entrepreneurs will provide demonstrations and there will be an opportunity to meet new businesses in the Hub Springboard area.
The £20 million Ron Cooke Hub is a flagship conceptual building which supports start-up businesses and inter-disciplinary research centres, as well as creating social and study space for students. Since November 2010, over 500 businesses have made use of its spaces and facilities.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Cantor said: “The Ron Cooke Hub houses an eclectic mix of student teaching, study spaces, interdisciplinary research centres, creative technologies, arts and visual demonstration spaces, student entrepreneurship, professional development, business incubation and University/business meeting rooms. It sits at the heart of the Heslington East development and at the forefront of the University’s strategy for engagement and collaboration with industry, as well as fostering and supporting entrepreneurship among students and staff.
“The University has been a catalyst in developing and accelerating the city of York international profile working in partnership with the local community, City of York Council and inward investment agencies. The embedding of business facilities on campus is accelerating the promotion of York’s strengths in the knowledge economy. Our investment in world-class facilities will act as a magnet for inward investment to the city and region.”
The Ron Cooke Hub has won a number of architectural awards including the York Design Award in the New Build, Non-residential, Public category last month.
Grahame Brown, Business Manager of the Ron Cooke Hub, said: “The outstanding building provides some of the most exciting and flexible space in the UK for new businesses to establish and grow, and for external groups to utilise for their high impact meetings and events. The space brings incredible opportunities to collaborate with like-minded businesses, organisations and world-leading research specialists, adding value well above the normal expectations.”
The Hub is also home to the Centre for Excellence in the Teaching and Learning of Enterprise (CETLE), a White Rose initiative between the Universities of York, Sheffield and Leeds established in 2005. At York CETLE hosts a micro-incubator in which students can start and base their own businesses and provides small grants to promising business concepts. Thanks to its support, a number of former York students have gone on to run their own businesses.
The Heslington East campus development has been supported by investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in Yorkshire and the Humber, part of a major infrastructure project led by Science City York to extend the assets and strategic potential of York as a leading centre for science and innovation.
HEFCE played a pivotal role in helping to secure early stage funding for the delivery of the Heslington East extension, which represents one of the biggest capital developments in UK higher education in recent years.
Admission to the opening and lecture is by free ticket only, available at www.york.ac.uk/tickets.
Notes to editors:
- More on the University of York’s campus development at www.york.ac.uk/campus-development/
- For more information on the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Enterprise visit www.york.ac.uk/enterprise/cetle
- Yorkshire and The Humber ERDF Programme 2007-2013
The regional ERDF Programme, approved in December 2007 was launched in February 2008.
The programme is managed by Yorkshire Forward on behalf of a regional partnership including the National Government, European Commission and Regional bodies.
The programme provides €583 million from the European Regional Development Fund to invest in the region’s economic development by 2013 with €271m for South Yorkshire and €312m for the rest of the region. South Yorkshire has extra resources to help with its transition from its earlier Objective 1 status.
Further information about the ERDF Programme in Yorkshire and The Humber is available at www.yorkshire-forward.com/erdf - European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was set up in 1975 to stimulate economic development in less prosperous regions of the European Union (EU) and to act as a significant instrument with which the EU can support its Cohesion Policy.
As EU membership has grown, ERDF has developed into a major instrument for helping to redress regional imbalances. The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) manages ERDF in England.
Between 2007 and 2013, England benefits from an investment of €3.2 billion (approx £2.5 bn) of ERDF. It is delivered by regional programmes in each English region, managed by the Regional Development Agency. England also receives €177 million ERDF for two national cross-border co-operation programmes with France, Flanders and the Netherlands and another €193.8 million is available to the United Kingdom for participating in three trans-national co-operation programmes across the North West Europe, North Sea and Atlantic areas.
ERDF is directed at projects offering substantial benefits which meet the needs of an area and would not take place without a grant. It is used to provide help towards the project costs with grants set at a minimum level required to allow the project to go ahead. As a general rule, however, the EU contributes no more than 50% of the eligible cost with the rest of the funding, known as ‘match funding’ coming from other public sources.
Information about the European Union’s support for regional policy, including ERDF is available at www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm
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