Innovation UK > News > Innovation UK Vol6-1 > Northern Ireland Science Park - Going for growth

Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) channels creative thinking towards practical, market-ready applications ? Northern Ireland Science Park is an environment and location where people do business with science.

Headquartered within the 180-acre Titanic Quarter site ? where the White Star Line?s famous family of Olympic passenger vessels were conceived ? Northern Ireland Science Park creative campus is in one of the largest city-centre waterfront redevelopment sites in Europe.

Facilities at Northern Ireland Science Park

Northern Ireland Science Park supports knowledge-based businesses through an array of flexible workspace solutions on a range of leases to reflect the needs of companies ? from one-person start ups requiring a single desk on one month?s notice to an entire building on a 15-year lease.

Northern Ireland Science Park has six buildings currently in operation offering around 250,000 square feet net of lettable agile work-space, along with additional public networking and meeting spaces. Commercial rentable space at the Northern Ireland Science Park includes the White Star House (40,000 sq. ft), the Innovation Centre (56,000 sq. ft), the Legacy Building (23,000 sq. ft) and the Concourse Building (50,000 sq. ft.).

There are more than 60 tenants based at Northern Ireland Science Park who benefit from being part of a thriving business community of like-minded enterprises. They fall under five areas of business activity including: High tech; Telecommunications; Digital Media; Clean Technology; and Health/Bio Technology. Global corporations such as leading business software provider SAP, and top US Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications supplier Broadsoft, sit alongside successful local companies such as Autonomy Meridio ? a local start up that is now a FTSE 100 company ? and local solutions provider to the healthcare industry, Kelsius.

Connectivity

Northern Ireland Science Park is one of the best-serviced locations in Europe as regards to connectivity, which means tenants can bid for contracts across the world without having a physical presence in the country.

Northern Ireland Science Park sits atop the fibre-optic backbone linking Europe to mainland US and boasts the best connectivity in Ireland. Data packets sent here are theoretically only limited by the speed of light, with the whole site enjoying low-cost TIER 1 internet and telephony gateways as well as carrier independent infrastructure. Northern Ireland Science Park is surrounded by a resilient ring of 5GB fibreoptic cabling, meaning security of connection is guaranteed.

Strategic Partnerships

Northern Ireland Science Park is partnered by Queen?s University Belfast, the University of Ulster and funded to date by Northern Ireland?s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and by the International Fund for Ireland. Northern Ireland Science Park works closely with Invest NI, the economic development agency for Northern Ireland, and Belfast City Council.

In 2005, the £40 million ECIT Building opened at the Northern Ireland Science Park. ECIT is a world-class research centre housing Queen?s University Belfast?s internationally renowned expertise in electronics and computer science. ECIT is pioneering innovation in key areas of advanced technology whilst also providing ?hot-housing? facilities to encourage and support the growth of new spin-off companies.

Recent News from Northern Ireland Science Park

Northern Ireland Science Park got off to a flying start in 2010 with new tenants coming on board, contract wins and new product developments. In January, Rantec Research ? a financial engineering company ? helped launch a new $100 million Swiss-based hedge fund which predicts currency market movements. The cutting-edge software was developed by Rantec Research at the Northern Ireland Science Park and is operated by Hepta GFX Fund ? a Geneva-based firm ? co-founded by the managing director of Rantec Research William Kerr and investment banker Alberto Ferro-Villani. Rantec Research originally grew from a business incubator programme at Northern Ireland Science Park which helps accelerate the development of fledging enterprises; through a range of business support services and resources.

Shortly thereafter, NaviNet ? a US healthcare company, which announced a £4.4 million investment during a recent visit from US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton ? took up residence at Northern Ireland Science Park In its first expansion outside the US, NaviNet ? America?s largest real-time healthcare communications network which securely links more than 800,000 providers and patients, industry partners and health insurers ? plans to create 60 jobs over the next three years and deliver over £2 million a year in salaries into the local NI economy.

NaviNet has chosen the Northern Ireland Science Park for its Engineering Europe Headquarters and as part of a research and development strategy will provide core enhancements and new value-added services for the US healthcare industry. At Northern Ireland Science Park NaviNet will join the growing cluster of hi-tech and bio-tech companies in the ?Connected Health? sector boosting the reputation of Northern Ireland Science Park for cutting-edge research and development facilities.

In March, Northern Ireland Science Park tenant Intelliden was bought over by global computing giant IBM. Intelliden network automation software enables organisations to configure, manage and scale their networks. The Intelliden solution can also automate an array of network services that are increasingly important to virtual and cloud-based applications.

Intelliden technology will be integrated into IBM Tivoli Software, which helps clients integrate service delivery across organisational boundaries ? providing the visibility, control and automation to accelerate business growth.

?The typical company is managing a more complex and ever-changing infrastructure ? stretched across digital and physical assets,? said Al Zollar, general manager, IBM Tivoli Software. ?Companies are managing a virtualised computing layer that more than ever relies on the network. Intelliden?s intelligent network automation is an important addition to IBM?s portfolio to extend automation across all business and IT assets.?

Alan Black, president and CEO of Intelliden, said: ?Intelliden provides leading open, scalable and comprehensive network automation solutions, and this acquisition opens a world of new opportunities for our customers, partners and employees.?

Despite the downturn, companies associated with Northern Ireland Science Park are growing. More than half of all companies here have grown by 100% during their time at Northern Ireland Science Park . Great local companies like Sophia Search and Kelsius are going through additional periods of expansion and will be upgrading their space requirement over the coming months.

This agility and capacity to promote growth underpins the growing reputation of Northern Ireland Science Park as an ?innovation community? ? where hi-tech companies can share knowledge and ideas and benefit from being among like-minded enterprises.

Website: www.nisp.co.uk