Williams F1 establishes Technical Centre at Qatar’s
QSTP Facility
Doha, Wednesday October 28, 2009
Science & Technology Park (QSTP) formally signed an agreement
today to inaugurate the Williams Technology Centre (WTC). QSTP is
a world class incubator for the research, development and
commercialisation of new technologies that has attracted significant
R&D investment from companies such as Shell, Microsoft and GE.
QSTP is part of the Qatar Foundation which also incorporates
Education City, which hosts overseas campuses for six US
universities including Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M.
The Williams Technology Centre at QSTP will be the first Formula
One-related Technical Centre outside the sport’s traditional heartland
of Europe. The WTC will initially be tasked with the progression of two
Formula One inspired R&D projects with clear commercial goals,
namely the development of an industrial application large
Magnetically Loaded Composite (MLC) flywheel and the
advancement of Williams F1’s simulator know-how for competition
and road car application.
The Williams Technology Centre will be housed in the 45,000m2
state-of-the-art QSTP complex that forms part of the Qatar
Foundation’s strategic ambition to invest in, and propagate, a
knowledge-based, post-carbon economy.
QSTP and Williams F1 will fund the R&D programmes and, as
partners, will both benefit from the commercialisation of the
technologies that have their origins in Formula One.
The MLC flywheel project will address the potential of flywheels to
store and release energy very quickly, which makes the technology
suitable for a variety of applications. Initial target markets are mass
transit systems (both for recycling the kinetic energy of trains and
trams and to allow discontinuous electricification to reduce
infrastructure costs) and electric power stabilisation for renewable
energy applications.
Based on the extensive experience of proprietary driver-in-the-loop
(DIL) simulator development for Formula One, the second aspect to
the WTC programme will be the development of new driver simulation
technology for road car training, safety and entertainment, as well as
competition simulators for other motorsport series.
The Williams Technology Centre is anticipated to employ 20 staff with
a double digit million dollar R&D budget and a carefully projected
revenue stream that will reward both Williams F1 and QSTP for their
investment and support future project ambitions.
Dr Tidu Maini, Executive Chairman of QSTP said of the collaboration,
“QSTP has achieved much since 2007, whether judged by the
success of its robotic surgery centre or by the quality of R&D
investment from the international business community or the
association with prestigious research universities. This latest
collaboration with Williams F1 presents technically inspiring
possibilities rooted in a solid commercial context. QSTP is focused on
delivering the capacity building programmes, built for young Qataris
and new Qatari owned companies founded on technology and the
success of technologies such as the MLC flywheel is something we
are very keen to support and promote at QSTP. We are delighted to
be entering into this partnership.”
In response, Frank Williams of Williams F1 said, “It is perhaps outside
of conventional practice for a Formula One team to move such
activities out of Europe, but we have been very impressed with the
fertile environment QSTP presents for research and development and
the vision Her Highness Sheikha Mozah has for Qatar leading in the
development of beneficial technologies. After detailed consideration,
we have decided that this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss,
and we look forward to supporting the future of Williams F1 in part
from the development and application of Formula One-inspired
technologies to the wider world.”
To celebrate today’s announcement, the Qatar Science & Technology
Park identity will form a prominent element of the team’s on-car race
livery for this weekend’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
. Williams F1 and the Qatar
