Newcastle University has been given Principal Partner Status by technology giant Siemens in recognition of the ongoing collaboration between the two organisations.

Principal Partner Status is a unique initiative that offers graduate recruitment and ongoing levels of support for the development of Siemens to help strengthen the international business.  

Newcastle University has received the accolade for its many research collaborations across business sectors and its efforts to engage graduate talent with Siemens. Newcastle is one of only four universities to gain the prestigious status, joining Cambridge, Manchester and Lincoln.

Professor Phil Taylor, Director of Newcastle University's Institute for Sustainability, said: “Our collaborations with Siemens have developed into a very broad ranging partnership that covers everything from social to medical sciences, energy and transport. It’s an integrated partnership across the whole university and that’s incredibly beneficial for us. This allows Newcastle University to drive impact across a huge spectrum of society, which is what we seek as a world class civic university.

“Siemens represents a pathway to impact for Newcastle University because they can adopt the techniques, technologies and ideas generated at the university and deploy them at scale, and therefore make a really significant impact on society.”

Siemens has a longstanding programme of engagement with leading universities and research institutions focused on bringing together the best minds for talent development and innovation.

The Smart Grid Laboratory at Newcastle University was co-designed and co-created with Siemens, allowing it to meet not only the demands of academia but also industry.

Professor Taylor added: “Siemens is a global organisation that helps the university raise its international profile and our understanding of the international industrial sector. The partnership also allows us to work with Siemens’ other global principal partners so that we can form an international network.”

Siemens’ work with universities ranges from joint research programmes to development of new qualifications to meet future demands, to providing industry placements as a key part of education programmes.

Juergen Maier, Chief Executive at Siemens, said: "We are delighted to celebrate our collaboration with the UK’s top universities. Siemens has a very long heritage of innovation in the UK, which has helped to make us one of the country’s leading engineering companies.

“We look forward to strengthening these university relationships and working together on projects that will keep the UK at the forefront of technology innovation."

Siemens’ university partnering programme represents a key part of its commitment to the UK skills agenda and offers young people the opportunity to develop a strong career in engineering and technology.  

Toby Peyton-Jones, HR Director for Siemens, added: “At Siemens we know that it is engineers who will shape the future of the world we live in and find solutions for the world’s most pressing problems. Currently there just are not enough of them to meet the demands of not only Siemens but other companies as well. By actively focusing on a number of core universities we believe we can maximise the opportunities for strategic industry-led collaboration."

Photo caption: Professor Phil Taylor, Director of Newcastle University's Institute for Sustainability

published on: 5 June 2015