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Our Sectors

Northern Ireland is strong in a range of sectors, from aerospace to cyber security and precision medicine.

Northern Ireland has expertise across a range of sectors, including digital technologies such as fintech, cyber security and AI; in advanced manufacturing sectors like aerospace and materials handling and across a wide range of professional services.

Advanced manufacturing and engineering

Area of sector expertise

  • Aerospace and defence
  • Automotive
  • Construction
  • Materials handling
  • Electronics
  • Green growth and renewable energy
  • Consumer products
  • Employment in the Northern Ireland manufacturing sector has in recent years grown more than four times faster than the rest of the UK.
  • Manufacturing accounts for 11% of employment and over 15% of GVA, making it a key sector in the Northern Ireland economy.
  • The region is home to a range of indigenous and international companies, engaged in the full range of activities from R&D through new product development to manufacturing.
  • A strong focus on R&D investment and commitment to product & process and design & development ensure the sector continues to grow and experience success.

Aerospace and defence

Area of sector expertise

  • Interiors
  • Structures
  • Supply chain
  • The sector provides revenues of GBP £2bn and employs an estimated 10,000 workers directly
  • 1 in 3 aircraft seats are manufactured in Northern Ireland
  • Every Airbus wing includes components manufactured in Northern Ireland
  • SC21 - NI Aerospace has 5 Gold, 8 Silver and 5 Bronze awards, with more Golds than any other UK region

Construction

Area of sector expertise

  • Construction contractors
  • Manufactured construction products
  • Construction services
  • The Construction Sector represents the third-largest industry sector in Northern Ireland at 14%
  • Based in Newry, MJM is one of the largest cruise ship “fit out” companies in the world
  • NI has 10,000 firms within the sector of which 215 achieved sales in excess of £5M per annum

Creative technology

Area of sector expertise

  • Animation
  • Gaming
  • EdTech
  • Interaction content
  • Film & tv production
  • Sixteen South has won over 50 international awards including two EMMY® nominations
  • Game of Thrones® was largely filmed in Northern Ireland
  • The Pixel Mill offers a ground-breaking incubation programme for game development teams
  • Post-production house Yellowmoon is decorated with Oscar®, Emmy® and BAFTA® nominations

Financial services

Area of sector expertise

  • FinTech
  • Asset and wealth management
  • Banking and capital markets
  • Governance, risk and compliance
  • Insurance and assurance
  • 40% reduction in typical salary costs compared to London and Dublin (Bond Search & Selection, 2020)
  • 40,000 people employed in the Financial & Professional services sector (NI BRES 2019 & Invest NI data)
  • 4,150 graduates in business & technology each year (HESA)
  • The world’s top region for Financial Services technology inward investment projects (FT fDi Markets, 2021)

Food and drink

Area of sector expertise

  • Meat
  • Dairy
  • Drinks
  • Other
  • Agri-Food is Northern Ireland's largest manufacturing industry
  • World leader in traceability and food security. We created APHIS, an electronic cattle tracing database
  • Northern Ireland developed the world-leading Food Fortress - a collaboration between businesses and academia, committed to the highest standards of safety and security in our food chain
  • We sell food and drink products to over 70 countries worldwide

Global business services

Area of sector expertise

  • Customer experience
  • Financial services
  • Technical support
  • Northern Ireland is one of Europe's most Business Friendly regions of its size
  • 20,000 people employed in 40 shared services, contact or knowledge centres
  • 5,500+ graduates with a degree in areas including finance, accounting, economics, maths, law & computing

Green economy

Area of sector expertise

  • Low carbon energy (including onshore/ offshore wind)
  • Energy efficiency
  • Energy storage and intelligent energy systems
  • Water and waste water
  • Low carbon transport
  • Data centres
  • Waste and resources
  • The low carbon sector employs more than 12,000 people in over 300 companies
  • Northern Irish companies have the capability of providing a range of innovative products and services to address the specific needs of the various energy, water and transport supply chains
  • The industry has an annual turnover in excess of £1.7bn

Life and health sciences

Area of sector expertise

  • Precision medicine
  • Pharma and biotech
  • Clinical trials
  • Diagnostics
  • Med-tech
  • Vibrant cluster of 250+ businesses, international investors and indigenous companies, employing 8500. Exporting globally to over 140 countries
  • Geographic advantage with time zone centrally located between major global markets. Dual market access to both the EU single market and GB
  • Over 17 world-leading research centres with more than 1000 researchers
  • Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University rank among the Top 10 in the UK for bioscience research

Materials handling

Area of sector expertise

  • Mining and construction
  • Recycling
  • Handling equipment and vehicles
  • Agri-machinery
  • Supply chain
  • We manufacture over 40% of the world’s tracked mobile crushing and screening equipment
  • The sector employs more than 8,000 people in over 100 companies
  • When you buy from Northern Ireland you buy 60 years of leading the world in Mobile Bulk Materials Processing equipment
  • Our products operate 24/7 in the most demanding markets and harshest operating environments – in temps ranging from -40 to 50 C

Professional and legal services

Area of sector expertise

  • Legal services
  • Accounting
  • Management consultancy
  • Tech for professional services
  • 18,000 people employed in the professional and legal services sector (NI BRES 2019)
  • 5,100 graduates in professional and legal each year (HESA)
  • Belfast has been identified as one of the top 10 global emerging lawtech scenes alongside London, San Francisco, Singapore & Tel Aviv (Law Society England & Wales, 2019)
  • PwC and Google’s first European Innovation lab was established in Belfast in 2015 (PwC)

Technology

Area of sector expertise

  • Cyber security
  • AI and data analytics
  • Sports technology
  • Telecom, mobile and data networks
  • IT services
  • GovTech
  • Smart cities
  • World’s top destination for Financial Services technology investment and the number one international investment location for US cyber security firms (FT fDi Markets 2021)
  • Europe's leading FDI destination for new software development (by job creation) (FT fDi Markets 2021)
  • Belfast is one of the best cities in the UK to work in tech - and the best place to work as a software developer. 23% of NI jobs advertised last year were digital tech roles, highest % in the UK (TechNation)
  • Belfast has been named one of the world's top 15 Digital Economies of the Future and ranked 2nd in UK (9th in Europe) in a poll of Top 25 Tech Cities of the Future (Financial Times fDi Intelligence, 2021)

Tourism

Area of sector expertise

  • Visitor attractions
  • Cruise ship destination
  • 5.3 million people visited in 2019, spending a record-breaking £1 billion
  • Overnight visitors from outside the region exceeded three million for the first time in 2019
  • 167 cruise ships docked Northern Ireland ports in 2019, compared to 128 in 2018
  • In 2019, there was a 9% increase in tourism employee jobs on previous years

Company directories

Our companies are providing products and services to over 100 countries globally. To source a product or service from Northern Ireland, explore our supplier directories below.

Energy and water supply chain directory

Financial and related professional services directory

Life and health sciences directory

Materials handling directory

Smart cities directory

BuyNIFood

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