The Trimble Fund is a ten year, £500k commitment from Trimble to the University of Cambridge. The aims of the Fund are specifically to:
- enable world-class academic research that has the potential to achieve a significant impact across geospatial technology for the construction engineering sector;
- develop the students and postdoctoral researchers engaged in the research, so that they are ready to champion construction information technology in academia and industry;
- raise the profile of advanced construction information technology in the construction sector, across academic disciplines and publicly.
There will be a call for proposals annually in September. Applications are invited from within the University of Cambridge (from anyone with a PI status) for research funds of up to £50k, to be spent on areas of research relevant to Trimble Inc. - including construction, information technology, logistics, operations and sensing.
Monies may be used for equipment, consumables, travel and support for staff and students (note that staff employment costs will attract a 30% overhead charge). The fund aims to operate in a lightweight manner. A short report detailing results and outcomes is required at the end of the project. It is hoped that a number of small projects will be funded, and that the monies will leverage funds from other sources whenever possible; support work that could be transformative rather than incremental; and create a ‘honey pot’ that attracts the best students, staff and ideas to this field.
Decisions on project funding will be made by a committee consisting of the Head of Civil Engineering, a representative of the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, and two representatives from Trimble.
Any queries about the Trimble Fund should be sent to centre.manager@construction.cam.ac.uk.
Please note: Intellectual property generated by the project will remain with the University, but Trimble does have some rights: details are contained within Section 5 of the Framework Agreement.
