A £5.8 million state-of-the-art innovation centre has officially opened at Staffordshire University.
The Centre for Health Innovation will be a study base for more than 2,000 student nurses, midwives and paramedics and will offer a platform for new collaborations with local businesses, healthcare and technology industries.
The facility, which features the most advanced health simulation technology, aims to enhance clinical competency and the learning experience for students.
Located at the university's Stafford site, the centre is one of just five Centres of Excellence worldwide recognised by medical simulation training product provider CAE Healthcare.
Professor Martin Jones, vice-chancellor and chief executive at Staffordshire University, said: "Completion of the Centre for Health Innovation is an important milestone in our ambition to become the UK's best modern university.
"Our new sector-leading facilities in Stafford will help drive the digital health agenda and accelerate the transformation of the health workforce using immersive technology and advanced teaching.
"We're also delighted that the centre will play a key role in supporting start-ups and SMEs through the facilities, expertise and support we have to offer, driving new innovations and promoting new product development and research."
The new centre has been part-funded by the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) via the Government's Getting Building Fund.
The LEP allocated £2.89 million to this scheme to help bring forward the facility and generate further opportunity for learners and businesses in the area.
LEP chair Alun Rogers said: "Working in partnership is at the heart of the LEP's mission, and so it is fantastic to see that the Centre for Health Innovation will not only act as an exemplary learning facility for those choosing to study healthcare disciplines, but also enable greater collaboration with businesses in the sector."
The Centre for Health Innovation is the latest in a series of significant investments made by Staffordshire University over the last 18 months, including the £40 million Catalyst building and the £4.5 million Woodlands Day Nursery and Forest School which is set to open on the same site later this year.
Mike Phillips, interim executive dean in the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing, said: "This substantial investment in digitally-enabled applied learning and teaching at the Centre for Health Innovation takes immersive education to the next level.
"This is flexible and versatile space and we are actively encouraging innovative businesses the opportunity to see what it could do for them. Our facilities could be of use to employers requiring a safe space to train staff to work in different environments or those in search of a venue for product testing or film sets.
"Users can also access the university's internationally recognised research capabilities as well as a suite of CPD courses in areas such as life support and simulation."
