The UK Treasury has announced a £350 million investment in Northern Ireland's Belfast Region City Deal, which aims to reach £850m and create up to 20,000 jobs.
The Belfast Region City Deal aims to deliver a 10 year programme of inclusive economic growth for Belfast and the surrounding area, leading to a £470m GVA increase and stimulating the creation of 20,000 new and better jobs. The UK Treasury has announced that it's investing £350m in the scheme as part of the Autumn budget, with the NI Executive expected to add another £350m and local councils to contribute over £100m.
Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University have together invested another £50m to bring the total investment pool up to £850m, and that total is expected to reach at least £1bn as direct investment from the private sector takes place. The money will go toward 22 integrated projects centred around our digital innovation capabilities, boosting tourism, and major infrastructure improvements.
The deal will involve the creation of the Regional Innovators Network, a network of state-of-the-art facilities to aid innovation. It will include an Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre, a Centre for Digital Healthcare Technology, a Digital and Innovation Platform and Partnership, The Global Innovation Institute (led by Queen's University), a Screen and Media Innovation Lab, and others.
Brendan is a Sync NI writer with a special interest in the gaming sector, programming, emerging technology, and physics. To connect with Brendan, feel free to send him an email or follow him on Twitter.
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