This award follows Huawei’s continued investment into R&D in the UK market. In 2012 Huawei announced it would invest £650 million and procure £650 million in the UK by 2017. This year, Huawei has revealed plans to establish a new R&D facility in Bristol alongside its existing facility in Ipswich. It is also on track in investing £10 million to support technology research programmes with world-renowned British universities, signing partnerships with the likes of Imperial College London and the University of Surrey.
The £10m investment also builds on Huawei’s existing investment into the UK’s education system. Since 2011 the company has worked with the UK Government to fund an undergraduate exchange programme that enables students to visit China to understand the culture and to experience working life. This year 24 students took part in the programme and Huawei’s objective is to increase this to 50 per year from UK universities, by 2017.
“Huawei is honored to receive this accolade from The British Business Awards,” said Gordon Luo, Huawei UK CEO “The UK is a leading market for digital innovation and we will continue our investment into the country to help drive technology into the future. We are committed to building a better connected UK by working closely with our customers, partners, suppliers, universities and SMEs, and contributing to the industry ecosystem.”
In addition to its investment and work with many educational and research institutions, Huawei has also grown its own UK presence. By the end of 2014, the company has over 1000 employees in the UK, and expect the total number of employees to grow to 1,500 by 2017. It also opened a new UK headquarters in Green Park, Reading in June 2013 as part of an ongoing growth plan.