A curated audience of 100 founders, investors, industry leaders and policymakers came together in Belfast on Thursday 8 October for the UK Sovereign AI Fund: Northern Ireland Launch, including a private pitching session that gave selected Northern Ireland AI companies direct access to the team behind the £500 million fund, one of the UK’s most significant new AI initiatives.
The event, delivered in partnership by Sovereign AI, the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre (AICC), Catalyst and People Playbook, was designed to strengthen relationships between Sovereign AI and the Northern Ireland technology ecosystem, showcase high potential AI companies and provide founders with clearer routes into national investment, procurement and wider strategic support.
Held at Catalyst’s Innovation Centre, the event focused on the opportunity for Northern Ireland to play a greater role in the UK’s future AI economy, bringing together people involved in building, funding, researching and supporting technology companies across the region.
READ MORE: Northern Ireland’s Next AI Leap: From Experimentation to Maturity
The Belfast visit comes at a significant point in the development of Northern Ireland’s AI economy. The AICC’s recently published AI Capability Census 2026 found that the number of firms identified as commercially engaged with AI has doubled from 198 to 400 in just 12 months, while AI-related employment has risen to 2,402 full-time equivalent roles and estimated AI-related GVA to £214 million.
Growth has been strongest at the smallest end of the market. The number of micro firms engaged with AI, those employing fewer than ten people, more than doubled from 83 to 176, while small firms rose from 42 to 105. Seven in ten of the region’s AI firms now employ fewer than 50 people, 236 of the 400 were founded in Northern Ireland, and 87 have been incorporated since 2024, clear evidence of a growing base of AI entrepreneurship.
For the AICC, the visit was an opportunity to demonstrate that growth directly to national investors and decisionmakers, while helping ensure Northern Ireland companies are connected to the networks, capital and opportunities needed to scale.
David Crozier CBE, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre, said:
“Northern Ireland’s AI ecosystem is developing rapidly, with growing strength across our companies, talent and research capability. The opportunity now is to convert that momentum into sustainable economic impact by connecting businesses here with the investment, markets and national opportunities that can help them scale.
“The strongest innovation ecosystems are no longer built on the traditional triple helix of universities, government and industry alone. Research from MIT shows they also depend on entrepreneurs, who build the companies of the future, and on risk capital to back them. The Census shows that entrepreneurial strand strengthening quickly here, with the number of micro AI firms more than doubling in a single year. Convening all five of those stakeholders, founders,
investors, universities, government and industry, is a key part of the AICC’s role, while ensuring Northern Ireland has a strong voice in the national conversations shaping the future of AI.
“Bringing the Sovereign AI team to Belfast is a practical example of that, placing all five in the same room. It gives national investors and decisionmakers the chance to see at first hand the quality and ambition within our ecosystem, while building direct relationships with companies here. Ultimately, the AICC wants to help build stronger pathways from research to commercialisation, from innovation to investment, and from Northern Ireland into UK and international markets.”
The main programme opened with a focus on the strength and recent growth of Northern Ireland’s AI ecosystem before Joséphine Kant, Investment Partner at Sovereign AI, outlined the Fund’s ambitions, investment approach and wider offer for British AI companies.
Beyond investment, Sovereign AI is seeking to help high-potential UK AI companies access a broader range of support, including procurement opportunities and, where relevant, strategic resources such as compute and other national assets.
Joséphine Kant said:
“Sovereign AI is here to find the best AI companies being built across the UK and make sure we know the founders behind them.
“That means getting out and spending time in the places where companies are actually being built. That’s why we’ve spent the first six months travelling around the UK, meeting founders, investors and ecosystem leaders and understanding what is happening on the ground.
“Northern Ireland has a particularly strong combination of technical talent, research expertise, entrepreneurial ambition and experience of building companies that can compete internationally. Belfast sits at the centre of that ecosystem, and we are excited to see more companies emerge from here and scale globally.”
The programme also featured a ‘Lessons from the Journey’ panel focused on the practical realities of building, funding and scaling technology businesses.
Panellists included Erwann Le Lannou, Investor at Sovereign AI, investor Michael Black and Alan Carson, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudsmith, with the discussion moderated by Patrick McIlveen, Head of Entrepreneurship and Scaling at Catalyst.
Brendan Mooney, CEO of Kainos, shared lessons from building and scaling a major technology company from Northern Ireland into international markets, while Tony McGaharan, Founder of People Playbook, acted as MC for the event and led a session exploring the leadership and human implications of increasingly AI-enabled organisations.
Ahead of the main evening programme, a select number of Northern Ireland companies also took part in a short private pitching session with the Sovereign AI team and investors, providing
an opportunity to introduce their businesses and growth ambitions directly to the investment team.
Catalyst supported the event as venue partner, hosting the Sovereign AI delegation and wider ecosystem at its Innovation Centre in Belfast.
Led by Ulster University in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast, the AICC works across business, academia, government and the wider innovation ecosystem to accelerate the responsible adoption and commercialisation of AI.
The Centre plays a central role in connecting Northern Ireland businesses with technical expertise, talent, research capability, responsible AI support, investment networks and wider UK and international opportunities.
This event reflects the AICC’s wider ambition to ensure Northern Ireland is not only participating in the UK’s AI growth story but is increasingly recognised as a region where globally competitive AI companies can be built, funded and scaled.
Discover more about the AICC at aicc.co and follow the Centre on LinkedIn for the latest updates.
Read the Summer 2026 edition free online →
Stay connected with NI's tech community:
