UU launches £50m data innovation hub

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Thousands of manufacturers are set to benefit from a new £50m data innovation hub led by Ulster University.

The Smart Manufacturing Data Hub will support small and medium-sized manufacturers to capture and better utilise data, helping them increase productivity, growth and sustainability.

The hub is available to manufacturers in Northern Ireland before going live for companies UK-wide, supported by 12 delivery partners.

Around 10,000 manufacturers will be assisted in developing, testing and adopting the latest data-driven technologies thanks to the hub, testbed and grant funding; approximately 13,000 jobs are also expected to be supported.

The funding comes as part of the £300 million Made Smarter Innovation Challenge, a collaboration between UK Government and industry to support the development and increased use of new and existing industrial digital technologies, including artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

Pro Vice Chancellor, Research at Ulster University, Professor Liam Maguire, said: “Made Smarter is another important project in the broader realisation of the Derry and Strabane City Deal agenda, further enhancing the attractiveness of investment and driving economic growth.”

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Europe’s top innovators gather in Gweedore

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Some of Europe’s leading young tech stars have gathered in the North West for the Innovators Under 35 Europe Festival.

This year’s event, held in Gweedore, County Donegal, celebrated a new generation of changemakers tackling society’s most pressing challenges as it emerges from the pandemic.

Since its creation, MIT Technology Review has been publishing an annual list of the best Innovators Under 35, from biotechnologists to artificial intelligence pioneers, with notable alumni including Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

The festival, which took place in the gteic hub in May, was sponsored by Derry City and Strabane District Council alongside other regional organisations and educational establishments.

“By choosing this location, we wanted to demonstrate that in our connected world, no location is off-limits when it comes to innovation,” said Connla McCann, director of the festival’s host, Aisling Events.

“The Atlantic edge – and places like it – will be the centre of the new world.”

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C-TRIC celebrates International Clinical Trials Day

Derry’s cutting-edge Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre, C-TRIC, has showcased its work on International Clinical Trials Day.

The award-winning research facility, based at Altnagelvin Hospital, houses the Research and Development Office, Ulster University’s Personalised Medicine Centre, and the Research Nurses Office.

It connects patients directly to national and international research opportunities, and aims to improve patient care in the community.

It held an event on International Clinical Trials Day in May, which Caitríona Lavery, research nurse manager at C-TRIC, said had been an opportunity to celebrate the facility and the team behind it.

She added: “We work together to build a better healthcare future for all, providing improved patient care and outcomes for current and future patients.”

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PLANS SUBMITTED FOR HIGH-TECH ALPHA INNOVATION CENTRE IN NW CITY REGION

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Plans have been submitted for the new high-tech Alpha Innovation Centre in Letterkenny.

The enterprise campus, which is estimated to cost €20m, is set to be built in the heart of the town on the former ESB premises on Pearse Road.

The development will include a seven-storey building of approx 1,625sq.m (17,500sq.ft) and office and research & development facilities – providing space and opportunities for new and existing businesses to work and network.

The campus will also incorporate a central civic space; pedestrian, cycle, accessibility and moblity infrastructure; landscaping; disabled and age friendly courtesy parking and emergency/service vehicle entry and egress.

The €6m Alpha Innovation Centre has secured €3.6m co-funding from Enterprise Ireland, and the €14m Beta
Business Centre, is being developed in partnership with Catalyst NI.

The project is being led by Donegal County Council in partnership with the Donegal 2040 Strategic Development Designated Activity Company (DAC). It is co-funded by Enterprise Ireland under the Border Enterprise Development Fund and will be delivered in collaboration with the key economic development agencies including, IDA and Donegal LEO along with Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Donegal ETB, Donegal Digital and ERNACT.

The centre is set to provide a bespoke pre-accelerator for early idea entrepreneurs as well as an extensive programme of wrap-around supports for businesses. The Alpha Innovation Centre will build on the latent potential of the emerging tech start-up scene in the Northwest, contributing to the region’s reputation as a great location to invest and do business.

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NI innovators ‘leading the way in post-pandemic recovery’

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Ulster University’s Pro Vice Chancellor of Research Liam Maguire was joined by colleagues from the Derry-based Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre (C-TRIC) at a Northern Ireland Business and Innovation Showcase in London.

Representatives from the university’s Engineering Composites Research Centre and Research and Impact Directorate also attended the event, which featured the best of Northern Ireland’s innovative businesses, start-ups and universities, showcasing what the region offers as an inward investment location and as a trade partner.

The Northern Ireland Office, the Department for International Trade and Invest NI partnered to host the September showcase, which Dr Alexander Chacko, UU’s head of Innovation and Impact, said “spread the message that Northern Ireland’s innovators, tech start-ups, and universities are leading the way in post-pandemic recovery.”

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Allstate NI partnership with Ulster University drives technological innovation

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The Allstate NI and Ulster University partnership has continued to flourish, with planning now underway for a second joint ‘Learnathon’.

The partnership spans from Allstate NI’s representation on Ulster’s industrial advisory boards, to involvement in reviewing curricula for undergrad and postgrad courses, student scholarships and prizes, running student hackathons, providing industry guest lectures and in turn, University academics presenting in Allstate.

Allstate has also been invited to develop a vision for the new CARL initiative (Cognitive Analytics Research Lab), to be based on the Magee Campus. This vision was developed through design thinking workshops with a small number of industry partners, including Allstate NI. November 2019 saw the opening of a new-state-of-the-art Allstate NI computing lab, also at the Magee campus.

Meanwhile, a recent research collaborative effort with Professor Damien Coyle, Dr Magda Bucholc and their PhD student Salman Ahmed used advanced multi-modal analytics approach to help predict major incidents in Allstate’s infrastructure at the earliest opportunity, allowing them to put preventative measures in place.

Jonathan Wallace, Professor of Innovation within the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment and Chair of the Faculty’s Computing Employer Advisory Board (CEAB), said the Computing Schools at Ulster University recognised the strategic importance of developing professional, educational and collaborative research links.

He added: “As well as the computing lab sponsored by Allstate NI, we launched a research partnership linking academics and PhD students from both Computing Schools with Allstate’s AI Centre of Excellence team to explore how AI and ML techniques developed at Ulster can be applied to the next generation of Allstate products and services, indeed planning for a second joint ‘Learnathon’/Mini-Conference to showcase how Ulster’s leading edge research can potentially address the short mid and long-term strategic goals of Allstate NI is currently underway.”

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Second Innovation Stories webinar announced

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Kieran Kennedy, former Managing Director of O’Neills Irish International Sports Company, is set to share his innovation insights in an upcoming webinar.

The October 14 ‘Playing the Innovation Game’ event is the second in the Innovation Stories webinar series, which 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 in which City Deal partners select case studies from the region, discuss what innovation means within a business, offer and general advice on embracing digital technologies.

Rosalind Young, 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.”

For further information and to book go to https://londonderrychamber.co.uk/events/innovation-for-growth-playing-the-innovation-game-14-october/

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Smart Nano NI lands £42.4m funding boost

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A nanotechnology consortium to develop new technology for medical devices, communication and data storage has been awarded £42.4m by the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund.

Smart Nano NI is led by Seagate Technology in collaboration with North West Regional College, Analytics Engines, Causeway Sensors, Cirdan Imaging, Digital Catapult NI, Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and Yelo.

The funding award, which was made after a highly competitive, UK-wide process, will further consolidate the region’s position as a global leader for excellence in nanotechnologies, and provide a lasting economic impact.  

The UKRI investment will help the consortium scale up capacity in device manufacturing, and underpin and develop hundreds of jobs across the sector. The total project value, including leveraged funding from other sources, is £63.9m.

Smart Nano NI’s Dr Mark Gubbins said of the investment: “We can now advance Northern Ireland’s niche capability around smart nano manufacturing and world-leading knowledge in photonics to create a self-sustaining local industry. It allows us to capitalise on the combined expertise of our companies and the availability of trained researchers and resources across our academic institutions”.

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Allstate NI hails North West’s ‘ingenuity and innovation’

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Northern Ireland’s largest IT company has praised the North West’s “resilience, ingenuity and innovation” as it celebrates its 20th year in business locally.

Allstate NI provides high-quality software development services and business solutions to support its parent company, the US-based insurance giant Allstate Corporation. It began its Derry operations in 2001 with 20 staff, and now employs more than 900 people in the area.

Managing Director and Vice President of Allstate NI, John Healy, said: “Our initial setup in Derry was about accessing the deep talent pool in the region.

“What we have managed to achieve in the past 20 years is a testament to the resilience, ingenuity and innovation of our community in the North West.”

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INVEST NI INNOVATION VOUCHER CLINICS

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Is your business looking for help or guidance with research and innovation? Perhaps your product, service or process requires expertise that is outside your current R&D capacity? Did you know that the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network can help?

To compete in the challenging global business environment, indigenous companies face an ever-increasing demand for advancement and innovation.

Recent data also strongly indicates that companies who collaborate with third-level institutes on research, development, and innovation, have double the turnover of those that do not, and these companies are also likely to have significantly greater sales and export revenues.

Invest NI in collaboration with the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network can assist you with funding and the specialist expertise you require. The Wireless Sensor and Applied Research Lab (WiSAR) Technology Gateway develop electronic products and software using expertise in the internet of things, while PEM (Precision Engineering and Manufacturing)Technology Gateway provide mechanical engineering and process improvements, with specialisation in product design and development in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

Invest NI’s next £5,000 Innovation Voucher call opens on September 5th and to coincide with this, both WiSAR, based in LYIT and PEM, based in Sligo IT, are holding joint Innovation Voucher Clinics on the 15th, 16th, 22nd and 23rd of September. These clinics offer free one-on-one consultations, where businesses can discuss potential ideas for R&D projects under the scheme.

To book your free consultation at the Innovation Voucher Clinics visit:

https://bookwhen.com/wisarlab/

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