| 2003 |
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YEAR BOOK |
Northern Ireland Science Park
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The Northern Ireland Science Park
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The Queen's Island site is part of the city's Titanic Quarter which, at 180 acres, is one the largest city centre developments in Europe. The landscape is urban waterfront and includes the Thompson Graving Dock, an example of Belfast's Edwardian engineering prowess where RMS Titanic and her sister ships were built.
FACILITIES
The sector themes in Belfast are centred on Electronics, Communications and Information Technology. In order to provide facilities which meet the demands of start-ups and growing knowledge-based companies, NISP is developing a number of new buildings using the latest in materials, design features and sustainable principles.
Innovation Centre
The Science Park's first building, a 56,000 sq ft Innovation Centre, opened its doors in summer 2003 to NISP's first tenants. The building, which is available in multiples of 2,000 sq ft, provides international broadband connectivity as standard and offers a unique and flexible workspace supported by progressive occupancy terms. Rents are very reasonably priced and each unit comes fully enabled with scaleable ICT packages available (including data points, desktop services and category six cabling).
ECIT
This year also saw the start of Queen's University's Electronics, Communications and IT Research Institute (ECIT) at the Belfast site. This 40,000 sq ft, �40m project (Queen's has already committed �30m) is set to become a world-class research institute drawing upon the skills of specialists in the fields of advanced digital and electronics communications technology.
As well as being a centre of research excellence, ECIT will also assist start-up companies which want to benefit from easy access to the relevant research groups. They will also be able to tap into business, financial and technical expertise provided by Queen's, NISP and other Government agencies.
ECIT is directed by John McCanny FRS, Professor of Microelectronics Engineering at Queens, who successfully co-founded two of Northern Ireland's leading technology companies - Audio Processing Technology (APT) and Amphion. Professor McCanny is therefore ideally placed to create a facility which links academic and commercial interests.
Coleraine & Magee
In Coleraine, UUSRP maintains a rural park aspect beside the University campus. Here the scientific flavour is Biotechnology and Life Sciences, two research themes at which the University of Ulster excels. Two buildings are available. One 40,000 sq ft building contains larger bioscience units, with smaller specialist units available in the neighbouring Bioscience Incubator.
In Magee, the focus is on software development and the demand for space will be satisfied from the highly successful Incubator already operating there.
WHY LOCATE IN A SCIENCE PARK?
Although the Northern Ireland Science Park is offering tenants the very latest in agile workspaces, there is much more to a science park than well designed bricks and mortar.
Science Parks are internationally proven in their ability to create business environments which foster the commercialisation of research and act as growth hot spots for ambitious knowledge-based companies.
While it is true to say that science parks represent a coming together of business and science, the difference - and real benefit of science parks - is the value that they add to individual businesses through the interactive community that the park is designed to foster.
NISP will form a critical mass of knowledge-based companies, which, in close conjunction with Queen's University and the University of Ulster, will form a community of research that will facilitate the transfer of research and knowledge. NISP will also supply business and technology support to tenants. The whole really will be greater than the sum of its parts.
TARGET TENANTS
With this in mind, NISP has already signed up one of Northern Ireland's most progressive renewable energy companies - Clearpower Technology. The company, which is the Innovation Centre's first tenant, is a good example of the type of knowledge-based company well suited to a science park environment.
Clearpower Technology, which is the brain child of Irish physicist William Dick, has its focus offshore, where their ambition is to translate sea movement into electricity through its product 'Wavebob'.
As Professor Dick said: It didn't take long after I met Norman Apsley (the Science Park's Chief Executive) to realise that here was a landlord who knew exactly what small, hi-tech companies like Clearpower Technology needed.
In attracting tenants to NISP, the broad aim is to concentrate on knowledge-based companies from five market sectors:
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�Start-up business and spin-off projects from Higher Education or Research Institutes
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�New operations of existing firms
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�Existing firms seeking to relocate in their travel-to-work area
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Inward investment from national and international companies.
Contact: If you fall into any of the above categories and are interested in finding out about what the Northern Ireland Science Park can do for you, please contact Professor Norman Apsley, Chief Executive, or Michael Graham at:
Tel: 028 (048 from RoI) 9053 4560;
E-mail: [email protected]