|
MEEF |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abu Dhabi The Masdar Research Network has pulled together programs from leading universities and institutes from Asia, Europe, and North America to accelerate innovation in new energy technologies and natural resource-sustaining systems. These projects will address issues of global importance, affecting the more industrially developed as well as developing countries.
|
The Masdar Research
Network is part of the grander Masdar Initiative launched in April
this year, including a $250 million Clean Tech Fund, a Special
Economic Zone for advanced energy industry, a graduate teaching and
research institute being planned in Abu Dhabi, and a clean
development company for carbon emission reduction.
“Each institution has been selected on the basis of its strategic commitment to innovation in energy and environment, top-tier interdisciplinary research, and a culture of international collaboration. We want to nurture an ecosystem of researchers who can work together with greater freedom in imagination,” explains Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.
“The Masdar Research Network will allow these universities and institutes to diversify and expand blue-sky research projects, work closely with industry in translating the research potential into benefits for citizens worldwide and cross-fertilise ideas and opportunities” he added.
The Energy Futures Lab of Imperial College London has a strong base in systems design and carbon management; RWTH Aachen University leads in energy and water research through its several research institutes and close cooperation with major industrial partners; and University of Waterloo in solar, wind, and hydrogen energy through the Centre for Advanced Photovoltaic Devices and Systems (CAPDS) and the Green Energy Research Institute (GERI). Other network members include Columbia University, a leader in developing sustainable energy solutions through the Earth Institute and Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science; the German Aerospace Centre, with leading R&D programs in concentrating solar power; and the Tokyo Institute of Technology through its advanced research on innovative solar thermal systems.
The Masdar Graduate and Research Institute, scheduled in three years, will become the hub of this international research activity, said Al Jaber.
“We want the Masdar Research Network to act as the catalyst for fusing research and innovation from the best research groups around the world, whether in academia or corporations, enabling creative technology breakthroughs at a faster pace than is possible through traditional funding routes. All projects are being selected on the basis of imagination, scientific creativity and practical outcomes. Each project under evaluation has an industry partner to assure that the research leads to real solutions with broad market appeal. We have a vision of Abu Dhabi becoming an incubator of next-generation research and its practical applications in the advanced energy and environment sector. We want to assist the world’s premier scientists and engineers to develop their most imaginative and exciting research ideas in our network”, he explains.
The projects pipeline of the Masdar Research Network already contains exciting prospects including research into electro-dialysis technology for water desalination, advanced solar panels, solar structures for buildings, and solar thermal towers which may demonstrably change existing markets and industries, as well as make critical improvements to our quality of life. In addition, the Masdar Research Network is looking at systems-level projects for carbon sequestration, cleaner transport systems, green development and urban water management.
Dr Tidu Maini, pro-rector at Imperial College said: “The Masdar Research Network initiative is highly exciting. It is not just of value to the Gulf region but to the whole world. I know of no other initiative that is bringing together such leading research groups from across the world and providing them with the resources to carry out blue-sky research aimed at new energy and environmental sustainability solutions. I am particularly impressed by the joined-up thinking of Masdar and how the research can then be further leveraged through joint ventures with industry and an investment fund to develop a portfolio of groundbreaking companies.”
Present at the launch of
Masdar were: Dr Armin Schnettler (from RWTH Aachen), Sultan Al-Jaber,
Nigel Brandon and Paul Docx (from Imperial College), Dr Vijay Modi
(from Columbia University), Dr Yutaka Tamaura (from Tokyo Institute
of Technology), Dr Karl Heinz Funken (from DLR), and Dr Siva
Sivoththaman (from University of Waterloo).
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company is a private joint stock company incorporated in Abu Dhabi and wholly-owned by Mubadala Development Company.
The company has been mandated to drive the Masdar initiative, champion the adoption of advanced energy technologies, and contribute to the diversification and sustainable growth of the Abu Dhabi economy. The company will also host a “think tank” that advises the government on the development of new sustainability policies. -TradeArabia News Service