LONDON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- A new home for Manchester University's Graphene Engineering Innovation Center (GEIC) was officially opened Monday by Queen Elizabeth's son Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

The center, built with a cost of more than 75 million U.S. dollars, complements the National Graphene Institute's (NGI) international research focus by concentrating on multi-faceted industry-led applications development, the university said.

"The GEIC will accelerate the commercial impact of graphene and help realize its potential to revolutionise countless industries," said a spokesperson for the university.

The university said the GEIC is a first step to realising a transformation of our wider surroundings.

"Manchester was known around the globe as Cottonopolis at the height of the Industrial Revolution. In this century our aim is to be Graphene City, a district where 2-D materials and complementary technologies drive jobs and growth," said Professor Luke Georghiou, deputy president and deputy vice-chancellor of the university.

In 2010, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov from Manchester University won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their groundbreaking experiments on graphene, a thin but strong form of carbon material.