Belfast Region City Deal
Sectors
Belfast City Council, along with 5 neighbouring councils :
are partners in a new £1 billion "City Deal", designed to promote digital, innovation and tourism projects in the Belfast Region.
A "City Deal" is a bespoke package of funding and decision making powers agreed between central government and local regions; aimed at helping to harness additional investment, create new jobs and accelerate inclusive economic growth.
The Belfast Region City Deal is one of four City/Growth Deals in progress for Northern Ireland, alongside :
Derry City and Strabane;
Mid, South and West; and
Causeway Coast and Glens.
The Innovation strand of the Belfast Region City Deal is about enabling the region to compete in the data-driven knowledge economy of the future through new open-source facilities for research and development. The innovation strand comprises 5 integrated projects:
The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre
This will operate at the interface between academia and industry; accelerating new technology developments through the innovation phase and ensuring that real-world industrial challenges based on market need are solved through cutting-edge research.
The Centre for Digital Healthcare Technology
Ulster University will create a high visibility, high quality centre for digital technology and associated living labs in the areas of cardiology, diabetes, respiratory and stroke.
Studio Ulster
Formerly known as the Screen and Media Innovation Lab, this is project is a collaboration between Ulster University and Belfast Harbour, which seeks to build on the incredible success story that the creative industries have created for NI, already contributing over £1billion GVA to the NI economy and employing around 26,000 people.
The Global Innovation Institute
This is a Queen’s University led cross-disciplinary digital innovation hub that builds on the momentum of the world-class ECIT (Institute of Electronics, Communications & Information Technology) facility that has already succeeded in putting Belfast on the map in terms of digital innovation.
The Institute for Research Excellence in Advanced Clinical Healthcare
This is a transformative project led by Queen’s University, Ulster University and partners from the life and health sciences sector.
More information can be found on these projects at www.brcd-innovation.co.uk/projects