Forty years since Fujitsu began its presence in the UK, the company has committed to a major program of investment to establish the UK in a key position in its global innovation network.
Fujitsu is determined to bring further innovation to the UK and will see the creation of over 200 high skilled jobs over the next year. This will add to the great bridge of innovation connecting the UK and Japan, which the UK Minister for Investment, Lord Grimstone described in his speech at Lancaster House (14.06.2022) when announcing this investment.
During London Tech Week, Fujitsu is setting out the first phase of this investment with an initial £22 million to establish its Centre for Cognitive and Advanced Technologies (C-CAT), with the first projects already underway in the North West of England. The C-CAT’s foundation is an important milestone in Fujitsu’s global technology innovation strategy. The Centre will import emerging technology from Japan, serve as a catalyst for cross-sectoral innovation and wider Fujitsu transformation, focused on the commercialisation of research and partner collaboration. It will form a foundation to direct future investment.
The announcement follows the strengthening of the relationship between the UK and Japan since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in October 2020. The FTA enables greater collaboration in science and technology between the two countries, which together with the UK Government’s commitment to maintain and enhance the UK's status as a science and technology superpower helped attract this initial investment, with further announcements planned later this year.
Visiting London Tech Week, Fujitsu’s Global CTO, Vivek Mahajan said: “Fujitsu is committed to and has confidence in the UK. We share the UK Government’s ambitions to thrive as a science and technology superpower. We recognise the potential of the growing partnership between the UK and Japan, and we will look to contribute to this by building the C-CAT as an innovation bridge between the two countries. The establishment of the Centre for Cognitive and Advanced Technologies here demonstrates the UK’s importance in our global mission to create a more sustainable world through innovation.”
Minister for Investment Lord Grimstone said: “Fujitsu’s decision to invest £22 million to build its new Centre here in the UK is testament to our business-friendly environment, will create 200 jobs and strengthen the great bridge of innovation connecting the UK and Japan. This project supports our shared ambition to maintain the UK's status as a science and technology superpower and enhance our world-leading work in key areas such as AI and quantum computing for the modern digital and data-driven economy.”
The initial £22 million investment will establish the C-CAT to bring together Fujitsu’s activity on a range of emerging technologies including quantum, AI, and digital twin technology, providing a direct link to work in Japan so that the UK can benefit from Japan’s leadership in areas such as supercomputing with Fujitsu’s work on Fugaku, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers – while Fujitsu benefits from working with the UK’s thriving research and innovation ecosystem.
The C-CAT will be led by Emerging Technology expert Dr Keith Dear and will see Fujitsu investing in skills alongside advanced technologies. As part of this investment, Fujitsu will explore further opportunities to leverage its quantum inspired Digital Annealer technology in the UK. Fujitsu’s world leading quantum inspired technologies have already brought benefits to UK partners such as the UK Space Agency. Bringing this technology on-shore and on premises in the UK will deliver greater benefits to UK industry and the public sector adding to long term needs for sustainability and resilience.
Operating initially from Fujitsu’s offices in Manchester and drawing on Fujitsu’s long-partnership and Explainable AI-work with the University of Manchester, the C-CAT will expand into a permanent campus built on co-creation to solve major challenges through innovation for the benefit of business, government and society. The final location of C-CAT’s campus will be determined after a rigorous evaluation and announced in the Autumn.
Head of Fujitsu UK, Anwen Owen stated: “By committing to a series of investments we are showing our confidence in the UK for the long term. Fujitsu is placing the UK at the heart of its approach to innovation globally. This initial investment has the potential to grow over the coming years as we build our capability in cognitive and advanced technologies such as quantum, AI and digital twin – to support our goal to revolutionise how individuals and organisations make decisions. The establishment of the Centre for Cognitive and Advanced Technologies is just the first step in expanding our UK presence, investing in digital talent and emerging technologies so we can contribute to the UK’s science and technology superpower potential.”
Following the establishment of the C-CAT, Fujitsu will set out details of the second phase of growing its commitment to the UK later this year with more ambitious plans into 2023.
