The Northern Ireland Science Park announced its ambitious plans for growth today, including the support of 5,000 additional new jobs and three new buildings, taking the total area to 1m square feet.

As part of the expansion the Science Park has rebranded itself as Catalyst Inc – the new name reflecting the catalytic impact it hopes to have on the development of technology and knowledge based businesses at its nine sites across Northern Ireland and Donegal.

Established in 1999, the Northern Ireland Science Park has so far supported the creation of 2,600 jobs and the development of 400,000 square feet of high quality workspace. Tenants include Citi, Novosco, Dow, Path XL, 8over8, IBM and Qualcom, as well as a range of smaller indigenous companies and start-ups, co-located with world-class research (Queens University, ECIT/CSIT).

Norman Apsley, Chief Executive of Catalyst Inc and Deputy Chair of Matrix, outlined the thinking behind the expansion plans.

“Catalyst Inc is built upon the deep belief that in Northern Ireland we have a community of innovators so powerful its people can change the world. We provide the home, networks and empathy to support this talent and ambition to develop world leading products and services that will transform Northern Ireland into one of the most entrepreneurial knowledge economies in Europe,” he explained.

“Everyone talks about the need to grow the economy and drive our expertise and skills in technology as it is applied to every business sector. What we have done at Catalyst Inc is to provide the right environment for that ambition to take hold and to prosper. Through our collaborative approach we have developed significant and successful partnerships. Our success in securing EU Interreg funding for the development of our North West campus with Letterkenny Institute of Technology is one such example. Now is the time to accelerate the generation and exploitation of knowledge to create competitive and compelling new products and services to sell to the world at large”

Watch the Catalyst Inc launch video: