Popular science presenter and former member of pop group D:Ream, Professor Brian Cox was guest of honour at the official opening of technology firm 3M’s new customer innovation centre at its base in the Western Industrial Area last Thursday.

Hundreds of the company’s commercial partners and guests were invited to the occasion, with 3M’s chief executive Inge Thulin and government representative Martin Donnelly, secretary for business, innovation and skills, among the crowd.

Before the opening of the centre, Mr Cox gave a 40-minute speech discussing the Large Hadron Collider, near Geneva, Switzerland, the world’s biggest and highest-energy particle accelerator, and technologies aimed at discovering other planets similar to Earth.

After his talk, guests were able to take a look around the centre, which displayed futuristic technologies that can be used in the workplace, home and everyday life.

Some of those included a new form of concrete which doesn’t sink, super-strong sticky tape that has been used to hold parts of planes together and new gadgets which test the cleanliness of work surfaces within seconds.

Mr Cox said: “The breadth of technology in this centre is just astonishing and it is just music to my ears. It is an inspiring place and really puts Bracknell on the map for technology.

“Lots of people will benefit from this, especially business partners and also schoolchildren on trips, too. I am sure they will all think about working in this field when they come here.

“It is a promising future for technology in this area and everything good about business and innovation is crystalised here.”