Warwick
Construction on the new research centre is expected to start in September 2014 (Reuters)

Warwick University is set to create around 1,000 jobs when it builds a car research centre worth nearly £100m.

The National Automotive Innovation Campus will bring academics from the UK's leading universities together with researchers and engineers from Jaguar Land Rover and the car manufacturer's supply chain.

Jaguar Land Rover is the lead partner in the project investing £50m ($79.9m, €59,3m), alongside Tata Motors European Technical Centre, Warwick Manufacturing Group, and the UK government's Higher Education Funding Council England.

The new facility, which is scheduled for construction in September 2014, will feature engineering workshops and laboratories, advanced powertrain facilities and the latest advanced design, visualisation and rapid prototyping technologies.

"Investing in collaboration, innovation, research and education is vital if we want to be on a par with our international competitors," said Dr. Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology at Jaguar Land Rover.

He added: "Creating a new national focus for automotive research and consolidating Jaguar Land Rover's growing research and advanced engineering operations in one centre offers us huge potential."

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The development of the NAIC project is the next stage in Jaguar Land Rover's long-term research strategy.

The employer expects that it will more than double the size of its advanced research team to 500 people by the time the NAIC opens in 2016.

Antony Harper, Jaguar Land Rover's head of research, said: "We will announce the details of the specific research projects on which our NAIC research team will collaborate in due course, but these will be long-term, multi-disciplinary challenges, which will help us create some key new technologies that will deliver a low-carbon future."

Harper added that the NAIC will also have a key role in developing the skills of school children and engineering students, who will be able to use NAIC's laboratories and a dedicated engineering education facility.