Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister, Jonathan Bell has announced that Northern Ireland has been appointed as a new centre for the UK Digital Catapult.

The UK Digital Catapult helps businesses in developing breakthroughs for the UK’s data sharing movement. The new centre will be based within the Northern Ireland Science Parks in Belfast and Londonderry.

Welcoming the establishment of the new UK Digital Catapult Centre, Jonathan Bell said: “This is another key success for Northern Ireland. Our Innovation Strategy aims to put us in the top four regions of the UK within the next 10 years.

“Our long term partnership with the UK Digital Catapult will provide businesses with the opportunity to collaborate to solve key problems and develop new products and services by sharing data in a much better way. I am delighted to announce that Northern Ireland is now formally part of the Digital Catapult Centre network.”

Having Northern Ireland as a formal partner of the UK Digital Catapult will strengthen the linkages between the NI digital sector with the GB market and the wider UK Digital Catapult network. It will provide the opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland’s world class capacity in areas such as advanced sensors, predictive analytics and cyber security and it will also provide a platform for local digital companies to engage with large companies across all sectors to pitch their solutions to meet those companies’ needs.

UK Digital Catapult Chief Executive Officer, Neil Crockett, added: “We have experienced some of the most promising innovation through our work with our local centres, bringing together businesses, universities and the public sector to develop breakthroughs in the UK’s data sharing movement. I am thrilled to see Northern Ireland join our network of centres and look forward to working with the local innovation community and support projects within our focus areas. The wealth of experience and expertise within Northern Ireland is a valuable asset to our network and we look forward to building a range of relationships both locally and across the UK. ”

The UK Digital Catapults task is to help UK businesses unlock new value from sharing proprietary data in faster, better and more trusted ways. They are funded primarily by BIS. The UK government has placed Catapults at the centre of its investment in Innovation infrastructure.

Northern Ireland will join the other regions who are currently delivering the Digital Catapult in Bradford, Brighton, London and Sunderland.

The Northern Ireland Digital Catapult Centre will be based within the Northern Ireland Science Park (Belfast and Londonderry), and has an extensive range of activities planned for the first year to help increase innovation and productivity within existing non digital companies through data sharing and access to digital companies with expertise in utilising data, and linking NI digital companies with the GB market and the digital catapult network.

The Digital Catapult develops breakthroughs for the UK around four areas of opportunity:

  •        Sharing closed data between organisations
  •        Sharing personal data in a way that’s secure and trusted
  •        Sharing content and licensed data more simply
  •        Sharing data generated across the Internet of Things