UK's Newcastle University to lead a national centre for subsea & offshore engineering in a major drive to develop new materials & technologies. The Neptune National Centre for Subsea and Offshore Engineering was unveiled recently by Business Secretary Vince Cable as a key part of the Government's Oil and Gas Strategy. It will be the first of its kind in the UK, bringing together industry and academia to create a world-class engineering research facility. Developing technologies that can withstand one of the world’s harshest environments, the new centre will be at the forefront of a quest to harness the ocean's potential as a source of food, energy and medicine.