TECHNOLOGY know-how will super-charge the Northern Ireland economy in the coming years, a leading IT specialist will tell NI Chamber members during a virtual address on Wednesday.
Sean Duffy, head of technology, media and telecoms at Barclays Corporate Banking, will present to the Chamber’s Sector Club.
"I’ve been checking in on how the region is doing in the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) space, and it seems the Northern Ireland resilience and energy has not been defeated by the challenges of recent months," he said.
"I was impressed to see Belfast named in the Top 10 Tech Cities of the Future 2020-21, ranking next to London, with the city cited as a successful technology cluster, and the rrecent creation of a new Digital Innovation Commissioner for Northern Ireland.
"Our team in Belfast is continuing to see more start-ups and scale ups, and we’re working on some significant opportunities. There have been some impressive finance rounds and expansion for companies in fintech like Fintru and Datactics and biotech like Diaceutics and B-Secur.
"Innovative global FDIs are continuing to spot the skills and talent being generated by the region's universities, colleges and education system and they’re putting their money where their mouth is by investing here."
He added: "There are exciting and impressive things happening in Northern Ireland, and the signs are good.
"By tapping into some key innovations at the right time, the opportunities are there. Top of the watch list are the current evolutions in telecoms, which present huge economic opportunity, and 5G could supercharge the Northern Ireland economy by £283 million a year."
