Attracting investment in Northern Ireland
By Professor Tony Gallagher, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Queen’s University Belfast
Northern Ireland’s two universities, Queen’s and the University of Ulster, play a central role in the social, political, cultural and economic life of society. Both universities draw the majority of their students from the local region and many of the leaders in politics, business, professions and the wider community are graduates. Both have an enduring commitment to a mission of service to the region. Central to this is their economic impact. They attract significant levels of foreign direct investment, directly through research contracts and indirectly through the pipeline of innovative and employable graduates. Both universities lever additional funds, above their direct government grant, to generate significant economic activity. And higher education is recognised as central to the creation of a dynamic, innovative economy, the primary focus of the Northern Ireland Executive Programme for Government.
Both universities lever funds additional to their direct grant, with Queen’s leveraging an additional £166, and the University of Ulster an additional £119, for every £100 of direct grant. Furthermore, both generate additional economic activity beyond their core income: from a combined income of almost £500m, Queen’s generates an additional £400m and the University of Ulster an additional £275m in economic activity. The two universities directly employ 6,500 people, but generate at least the same again through the multiplier effect, making higher education a major player in supporting and sustaining employment in the region.
In today’s challenging economic climate, regions such as Northern Ireland must identify and build on their strengths if they are to emerge from recession as a strong global player. A clear strength of Northern Ireland lies in its people, so we have a commitment to retain and develop that talent and build on its reputation as a region that values and invests in this most important asset, human capital. Indeed, a number of major inward investment announcements have cited Northern Ireland’s talent pool and highly skilled graduates as the main reason for investing in the region. In explaining CitiGroup’s decision to invest in Northern Ireland, their CEO stated that it was the quality of graduates and their loyalty to Northern Ireland, which underpinned such a compelling case for investment.
A number of major inward investment announcements have cited Northern Ireland’s talent pool and highly skilled graduates as the main reason for investing in the region.
Queen’s has a long established strategy of fostering an entrepreneurial culture and promoting the successful transformation of good research into good business through innovation and commercial development. The University’s venture spin-out company, QUBIS, has generated companies with an annual turnover in excess of £100m and almost 1,000 high value jobs. Despite the economic downturn, QUBIS has created five new high¬tech companies in the last three years. One of the most successful spin-out companies is Andor Technology plc. Andor was set up in 1989 and now employs over 260 people in 16 offices worldwide distributing its products to 10,000 customers in 55 countries and has now surpassed market capitalisation of £100m.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Ireland have benefited considerably from technology transfer. The Knowledge Transfer Unit was established at Queen’s in 1993 to provide a focal point for the promotion and support of knowledge transfer activities, in particular to increase the involvement of SMEs with the University, by developing collaborative projects through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). KTPs allow young graduates to be employed by business, but continue to be supervised by academics from the relevant university department, providing a very useful bridge between academic departments and businesses. This facilitates the transfer of expertise from the universities and colleges to the private sector. There are currently 70 KTP programmes in Northern Ireland: 40 are led by Queen’s, 17 by the University of Ulster and 13 by the Further Education Colleges.
In today’s challenging economic climate, regions such as Northern Ireland must identify and build on their strengths if they are to emerge from recession as a strong global player.
The two universities have also developed strong partnerships with larger companies. Queen’s, for example, works in partnership with companies such as Bombardier, Wrightbus, FG Wilson, Randox and Almac, all of whom value the University’s research strengths and mention them as a key factor in their continued commitment to investment in the province. The current development of the Northern Ireland Advanced Composites Engineering Centre, a collaboration between Queen’s, the University of Ulster and Bombardier is a further example.
Research undertaken by the universities has a critical role to play in inward investment. If Northern Ireland is to be successful in attracting and retaining hi-tech, high¬value inward investment, then it is essential that a high priority is given to protecting the existing skills base and ensuring that Northern Ireland has the internationally recognised research infrastructure it needs. Investment follows excellence and companies at the cutting edge want to be located close to centres of excellence.
All of these achievements are built on foundations of academic excellence and a commitment to inspire participation. Queen’s and the University of Ulster encourage the brightest and best amongst our young people to stay in Northern Ireland, while seeking to attract the brightest and best from across the world to study and work here. Realising the full benefits of higher education will only be achieved, however, if Northern Ireland maintains levels of investment in higher education and this, unfortunately, is currently under threat.
Tony Gallagher is Professor of Education and Pro Vice¬Chancellor at Queen’s University Belfast. He has acted as a consultant for many government departments, non-governmental public bodies and a range of international organisations.
