Intel pledges £1.5 million to UK Science Museum

Intel is plunging £1.5 million in an extension to the Science Museum in Kensington, London. The £47 million site, called the Wellcome Wing, is due to open in summer of the year 2000, is a high-tech facility which, according to the museum, fill focus on contemporary technology and biomedicine. Intel is contributing software and technology as well as cash to the extension, said Sean Maloney, corporate vice president of Intel US. Said Maloney: "We're announcing a £1.5 million investment into the digital content gallery of the Wellcome Wing. I remember as a child coming here from Lewisham and wandering around and getting a feel for technology. "The Science Museum has a history of doing things in an interactive way. This isn't as much sponsorship as a collaboration," he said. Intel spent over $100 million a year funding educationally related schemes each year, said Maloney. Sir Neil Cossons, director of the museum, said: "The whole thrust of the Wellcome Wing will be contemporary science. Our goal when we open Wellcome in the middle of the year 2000 is to present contemporary science to our visitors. We cannot do that without the collaboration of companies like Intel." While the Science Museum is talking to other technology partners, Cossons said that the donation, spread over three years,is the biggest contribution the museum had ever received. ® Click here for more stories