Trust A £2MILLION grant that helped establish the Innovation Centre at the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) in Belfast has transformed the city’s derelict shipping heartland into a vibrant business hub and helped create over 2,000 jobs, according to its chief executive.
Awarded in 2002 with 12-year re-porting conditions, the capital grant was part of a funding package that also included £25m provided by Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.
It enabled NISP to secure addition-al funding for the purchase and development of the now-successful business hub and complete it to the scale and standard required.
Opened in 2003, the award-winning centre helped kick-start a 10- year regeneration programme that has transformed Belfast’s derelict shipping heartland into a vibrant area that continues to nurture innovative local ideas, draw significant overseas investment and wow tourists.
Dr Norman Apsley, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Science Park said: “Since 2003, we have exceeded our objective to be a commercial and research-driven centre for knowledge-based industries, currently housing 120 tenant companies generating more than 2,200 jobs.
“As an economic driver, our impact on business (whether this is indigenous companies or foreign direct in-vestment) and academia (including the education sector and university research) alike, has been universally lauded.
“This would have been impossible without the backing, support and finance from the International Fund for Ireland. As a dynamic innovative environment, we are continually striving to meet the needs of the ever changing knowledge economy, to ensure that the science park continues to play a crucial role in NI’s economic prosperity.”
Dr Adrian Johnston, chairman of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), said: “The success of the Innovation Centre and the Northern Ire-land Science Park is a part of our legacy that we are very proud of. The IFI saw the grant as an investment that would support economic and social advance. “While we recognised its early potential, we could only hope that it would go on to become such a powerful catalyst for new opportunities in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. In terms of the return made, it is one of the most important investments the IFI has made.”
Operating at near-full capacity, the Innovation Centre’s occupants avail of all-purpose work-spaces that can accommodate wet labs and desk-based work.
The facility is home to a mix of indigenous businesses including food diagnostics specialist XenoSense, software firm Meridio and inward investors such as Microsoft, which based its first Northern Ireland office in the centre.