Derry documentary makers land £40k Netflix prize

,

A pair of Derry filmmakers have been awarded £40,000 from Netflix to fund a documentary about a local rapper.

Sean Mullan and Michael Barwise were among 10 filmmaking teams from across the UK named as beneficiaries of the streaming service’s new Documentary Talent Fund.

Each recipient will receive up to £40,000 in financing and mentoring to create their own short film between 8 to 12 minutes long, answering the brief, ‘Britain’s Not Boring and Here’s a Story’.

Sean and Michael’s film is about Jordan-Lee Brady-James, aka HYFIN, a young Derry man who is told that someone with a Northern Irish accent can’t rap.

The final films will be delivered in January 2022 and published on Netflix UK’s social channels, with the potential for further development.

/0 Comments/by

Clipper Race Derry-bound in 2022

,

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is once again set to drop anchor in Derry next year, with the city announced as a host port.

Plans are now underway for the July 2022 Clipper stopover and the return of the internationally acclaimed Foyle Maritime Festival, which draws more than 200,000 attendees to the city’s quayside.

The Clipper 2019-20 Race was suspended in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, and plans for Derry to act as a Host Port Partner for the fifth time last summer were put on hold. The award-winning Foyle Maritime Festival was also cancelled as Council’s events programme moved online. The last Foyle Maritime Festival in 2018 attracted almost 211,000 attendees to a packed programme of events, and provided an estimated economic boost of at least £2 million for the local economy.

/0 Comments/by

Hill Street hatches plans with LEVELUP prize

,

A hospitality pop-up incubator has been selected from 12 Northern Irish start-ups to be named overall winners of LEVELUP 2021.

Delivered by Startacus in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council, LEVELUP 2021 was a two-day hybrid event which took place on 21st and 22nd April, looking at innovation, ideas and inspiration from around the world.

The event was part of the programme for Enterprise Week Derry Strabane and explored how people, both locally and internationally, have created opportunity, economic growth and initiated real change.

Hill Street Hatch are a pop-up space in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter offering a creative partnership for entrepreneurs in the local hospitality scene to test and launch new concepts and ideas.

Co-founders of the start-up, Ema O’Kane and Ryan Crown, scooped the £2,000 cash prize after their virtual pitch impressed a panel of industry professionals and investors during Derry-Strabane Enterprise Week in April.

LEVELUP judge Judge Naomi Timperley praised the winning pitch: “Love love love this concept – great pitch and passion.

“A great idea to ‘try before you buy’ for the hospitality industry. So many restaurant concept ideas crash and burn and this is a way of trialling the concepts first and building an audience.”

Hill Street Hatch

Catch-up on LEVELUP and other Enterprise Week events here.

/0 Comments/by

City Deal partners present Innovation Stories webinar series

, ,

A new webinar series has been launched to celebrate innovation in the North West.

The Innovation Stories webinars follow the signing of the historic Derry & Strabane City Deal in February, and also come as Northern Ireland embarks on a Decade of Innovation, set out in the recent publication of the Department for the Economy’s 10X Economy paper.

Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, Derry City and Strabane District Council and Ulster University are collaborating on the series. Its first event, targeted at businesses and employees considering upskilling and anyone with a stake in the innovation or City Deal agenda, was held this month.

Rosalind Young, the Council’s investment manager, said: “Through the visionary Derry and Strabane City Deal, a whole new innovation eco-system will develop here in the region. The people behind the City Deal are inviting businesses to hear best practice and to leave with an idea of how they will play their part in the Decade of Innovation that is ahead.”

One of the academics and researchers behind the planned, Centre for Industrial Digitalisation, Robotics and Automation (CIDRA), Justin Quinn of Ulster University’s School of Computing Engineering and Intelligent Systems at the Magee campus said:

“With Industry 4.0 upon us, a new form of manufacturing is about to begin which will change the face of industry. It will bring about huge opportunities for the industries who embrace it and challenges for those who do not. Work is underway now to bring about a Centre for Industrial Digitalisation, Robotics and Automation in Derry. We are inviting businesses to consider how they would like to be part of the Derry City Deal. Covid-19 forced many a business to reconsider how they operate, so in many ways we have seen that rapid change is possible. We would like to help companies to begin their innovation journey now so as to be ready to take advantage of centres like CIDRA and CARL when they are in place. ”

/0 Comments/by

£170,000 boost for NW Manufacturing Network

, ,

The North West Manufacturing & Engineering New Futures Network has been awarded £170,000 of support from Invest Northern Ireland’s Collaborative Growth Programme.

The network, led by Nuprint Technologies Ltd, is made up of engineering and manufacturing businesses in the Derry and Strabane area, who work with local further and higher education Institutes and Derry City and Strabane District Council to promote skills and employability in the industry.

It aims to establish the North West as a region of excellence for manufacturing and engineering, boasting the very best skills and innovation capability, as well as generating business opportunities for those involved and the wider NI economy.

The funding will allow the network to appoint an independent facilitator who will work with companies and stakeholders, and help the sector develop through access to a skilled pipeline of talent. They will also provide support for the sector to innovate and embrace research and development to future-proof businesses for global competitiveness.

The group previously carried out a Scoping Study, also supported through Invest NI’s Collaborative Growth Programme. This was to identify key future priorities, including how best to address shifting perceptions of manufacturing and engineering as a preferred career; options for up-skilling; and new pathways to career progression.

Welcoming the support from Invest NI, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District, Councillor Brian Tierney, said: “This is fantastic news for Derry and Strabane where we have a serious skills deficit that Council is working closely with our partners in education and industry to address. Partnership is key to taking an effective and sustainable long-term approach to building and developing the Manufacturing and Engineering sector.

“We have a wealth of talent here in the North West, we need to help businesses tap into that talent pool and also create the opportunities for young people to develop the skills and experience required to enhance both their prospects and the future success of the industry. I welcome the plans to appoint a Facilitator who can now begin to deliver on the objectives set out by the Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Collaborative Network.”

Commenting on the funding secured, Paul Kirkpatrick, Chair of the Network, said: “The sector is a huge employer and vitally important as we move forward to rebuild the economy after the impact of Covid-19. This collaborative approach of the public-private sector working together will deliver employment opportunities across all skills levels and emerging opportunities through R&D and new product development.”

The Network is led by Nuprint Technologies Ltd and incorporates membership from Manufacturing and Engineering Companies in North West including Precision Processing Services, AE Global, Fleming Agri, Dupoint, Invista, Seagate, Terex, E&I, GES, Hunter Apparel, Derry Precision Tools, Fast Technologies, McColgans, O Neill’s, MIM Engineering, North West Medical Ltd & KES Group. As the Network develops, the intention is to add more members from the micro and SME sector.

Managing Director of Nuprint, Gavin Killeen, said: “I am delighted our application has come to fruition and I look forward to working with Paul, Invest NI and Derry City Strabane Council in driving forward our ambitions for the sector. In the wider context of the Derry City and Strabane transformational City Deal, one of the key projects includes the development of a Centre for Industrial Digitisation, Robotics and Automation which will support companies wanting to take advantage of the digital technologies which would help support the future growth and development of this sector. I am confident that by working together we can maximise the potential that exists on our doorstep.”

Invest NI’s Collaborative Growth Programme is aimed at SME-led networks, and provides support for groups to pursue innovative collaborative projects with the potential to increase business competitiveness. Des Gartland, North West Regional Manager at Invest NI, said: “We are delighted to support the Manufacturing & Engineering New Futures network through our Collaborative Growth Programme. The North West has a strong advanced manufacturing and engineering heritage and the sector plays a vital part in Northern Ireland’s economy.

“We are confident that collaboration is a key method of accelerating business growth. By working collectively, the network will have a strong focus on how best to attract, retain and engage a skilled workforce to enable businesses to grow and develop skills. It will assist in the digital transformation and contribute towards increasing the global competitiveness of the sector here in the North West and beyond.”

The network will also benefit from the input of a number of targeted stakeholder organisations. These include Manufacturing NI; SEC; Catalyst Inc.; Derry City & Strabane District Council; Invest NI; Sentinus; MATRIX, NWRC, UU & local schools.

Managing Director of Nuprint, Gavin Killeen, with Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council
/0 Comments/by

Learning Pool agrees to Marlin Investment

, , ,

Learning Pool has agreed to a new investment from Marlin Equity Partners which will support the e-learning company’s continued growth and create 100 new jobs.

Founded in Derry and currently ranked as one of the top 60 Large Best Companies to Work for in the UK, Learning Pool employs more than 260 people across the UK and US.

The Marlin investment will facilitate further job creation, with plans in place to hire an additional 100 Learning Pool employees across the group this year. 

As part of the investment, Marlin will acquire the shareholding of Carlyle Cardinal Ireland, who invested in Learning Pool in 2016. Since then, Learning Pool has seen revenue increase four-fold and made four acquisitions, most recently acquiring US-based Remote Learner. Marlin is expected to help accelerate growth both organically and through additional acquisitions.

Learning Pool Team with Marlin Equity Partners

/0 Comments/by

Ulster University, Seagate and Dell Technologies Ireland collaborate during Covid 19

, , ,

Ulster University, Seagate and Dell Technologies Ireland have combined their research and data storage capabilities in a collaboration which will allow advanced analyses of Covid19 patient data.

CTRIC @ Ulster University

The Ulster University research team will examine large volumes of medical datasets to establish if there are links between COVID 19, genetic make-up and the severity of the disease. The findings will also inform decisions around drug treatments for those with severe symptoms and possibly long covid, as well as providing an insight into how genes may influence vaccination efficiency.

Data storage company, Seagate, and multinational IT company Dell Technologies have delivered the infrastructure required to store patient information for this major research project at the Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine based at C-TRIC on the Altnagelvin hospital campus.

Seagate donated 100 x 12TB Hard drives and Dell Technologies donated critical equipment and expertise to help deliver a complete solution.

The collaborative partnership is part of the Data4Good initiative aimed at data usage for the benefit of humanity. It created a petabyte of data which is the equivalent of over 1000 large home computers working together or the capability for an individual to store 4,000 digital photographs every day for their lifetime.

Professor of Genomics, Tony Bjourson, Director of the Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine at C-TRIC at Altnagelvin, and the Project Lead on the UU THRIVE City Deal project said:

“We are delighted this crucial infrastructure is now set up, thanks to Seagate and Dell Technologies as without this data storage and IT capacity we could not undertake this work. We recently completed the recruitment of the 500 Covid19 patients for whole genome sequencing. It means reading the sequencing of the 3.2 billion chemical letters that make up each of our genomes.  This generates huge amounts of raw data that has to be stored to allow very advanced computational genomic analyses.

This collaboration, which came about when Seagate and Dell Technologies responded to our call for assistance, offers a good example of how research transforms lives and how technology acts as a catalyst for innovation. We will pursue more of these kind of collaborations through the Derry and Strabane City Deal in the years ahead through data analytics via CARL and health innovation via THRIVE and of course industry partnerships such as this one will be key. For now, as our work during Covid19 continues, we are so grateful to partners such as Seagate and Dell Technologies for coming together in this way.”

Fergus O’Donnell, Plant Manager and Site Lead at Seagate said:

“This collaboration involved a huge effort from the teams at Seagate, Dell Technologies and Ulster University working together to overcome the many logistical and organisational arrangements to help deliver a complete solution. It is important to support these advanced analytics capabilities which enable progress in this vital area of research and bring benefits for local and global communities”.

Jason Ward, Vice-President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies Ireland said:

“We’re proud to build on our strong partnership with Ulster University through technology and expertise to help their researchers unlock insights into COVID-19 and uncover treatment options for those impacted by the virus. With the latest Dell Technologies storage systems and back-end infrastructure, the team at Ulster University will have immediate access to the data and applications needed to drive their research forward.”

/0 Comments/by

Almac Group Announces Expansion into North West: 100 New Career Opportunites

, , , ,

Almac Group, the global contract development and manufacturing organisation, has today announced the launch of a recruitment campaign with a view to setting up a facility in Derry/Londonderry.

With over 5,600 employees located in 18 locations across the world, 3,600 of whom are based at its global Headquarter campus in Craigavon, Almac is planning to offer up to 100 new, highly skilled jobs specifically targeting the North West region of Northern Ireland over the next three years. The initial recruitment drive is underway and offers a mixture of project management and software engineering positions at all levels. Experience of the pharmaceutical industry is not an essential requirement for these roles as full on-the-job training is provided.

Alan Armstrong (CEO) Almac Group

Alan Armstrong, CEO, Almac Group, explains, “We are experiencing significant growth and have a need to support our many clients across the globe. With substantial advancement in technology, we are fortunate to be able to locate our employees anywhere we choose offering greater flexibility and access to our various range of services. Given the skills pipeline coming from Ulster University at Magee and Coleraine, combined with the excellent choice of workspace available in the Derry/Londonderry area, we have decided to explore this region as our next Almac location.

“We are proud to have our global Headquarters based in Northern Ireland and it is our plan to expand our reach and establish a base in the North West.  We are hopeful that, when word spreads about our expansion plans to this region, we will be able to obtain the required numbers and quality of job applicants who are keen to join us and support our mission to advance human health globally.

“Given the success experienced by many other companies in this area, we plan to employ up to 100 staff at this new location over the next three years.”

This announcement comes as the company continues to recruit globally, in particular for its Craigavon campus, as the company grows in response to increased client demand.

To find out more or to apply for a position, visit here.

/0 Comments/by