Warwick Manufacturing Group exploring Volvo partnership

Warwick Manufacturing Group are exploring an R&D (research and development) and education partnership with Volvo owners Geely Businesses, it emerged last week.

Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) announced that Mr Li Shufu, chairman of Volvo Car Corporation, had personally visited the University on Monday 10 May. He had agreed to talks with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Director of WMG, to explore the possibility of a partnership.

WMG, an academic group established in 1980 providing research, education and knowledge transfer in energy and technology, offers both taught and research degrees for postgraduate students both on campus and at overseas centres in China, India, Malaysia, India and Thailand.

Chairman Li said that he is “impressed with WMG and its track record of working closely with industry over many years.” He also said he was “keen to explore working in partnership with WMG to leverage WMG’s considerable skills base and expertise in automotive and R&D.”

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya expressed enthusiasm for the project, and said that “the benefits to the region and the UK… of working collaboratively with global companies such as Geely Businesses cannot be overstated.”

The partnership is to be worked on over the next six months, according to the University’s Head of Communications Peter Dunn. As to what the partnership may mean for students at Warwick, Dunn commented that: “All WMG’s partnerships with such companies have brought access to to cutting edge research questions and equipment, which leads to our staff and postgraduate students having access to [the] latest technology and the ability to gain experience of commercial research programmes.”

More information on WMG can be found on WMG’s [website.](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/)