Newport's Ni-Park innovation centre 'to be 'catalyst for development'
The vice-chancellor of Harper Adams University has welcomed the approval of the Newport 'Ni-Park' innovation centre plans.
The agriculture and innovation hub is funded through the Telford Land Deal and Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and is supported by the nearby Harper Adams University.
Vice-Chancellor of Harper Adams University, Dr David Llewellyn, said: “Telford has already been identified as a high potential opportunity for agri-technology investment by the Department for International Trade, and we are working with companies in the UK and overseas to encourage them to consider Ni-Park as a location for their business.
"We are therefore delighted to see that the development has been approved by the local authority’s planning committee.
“Ni-Park will build on the expertise in agri-technologies at the university, most recently demonstrated in the multi-award winning, and world-first, Hands Free Hectare project which used autonomous vehicles and drones to grow arable crops.
"The government-funded Agri-EPI Centre for Innovation in engineering and precision farming also has a presence on our campus.
"By working with the local authority on this latest project we hope to see Ni-Park act as a catalyst for economic development and as a means to successfully transfer the latest technologies into farming practice.”