Belfast 5G Innovation Region
The Belfast 5G Innovation Region (5GIR) programme, led by Belfast City Council’s City Innovation Office, is working with businesses, academia, and the public sector to support the adoption of 5G and other advanced wireless networks across the Belfast Region.
Advanced wireless networks are key to the development of innovative products and services across a range of industry sectors including health, manufacturing, transport and logistics, creative industries, and public services.
We are developing resources and plans to ensure that our local businesses and organisations are well-placed to harness advanced wireless connectivity to help grow the economy.
We are also working with partners to deliver a series of commercially focused use cases that leverage 5G’s potential, and launching a 5G funding competition to further drive adoption in key industry sectors.
Belfast 5GIR Use Cases
We are working with partners to deliver a series of commercially focused use cases that leverage 5G’s potential in the transport and logistics, creative industries, construction, and advanced manufacturing industry sectors.
5G Port
Belfast Harbour is harnessing 5G-led innovations to accelerate the digitisation of port operations including automatic bulk freight handling and safety improvements which aligns with their strategic ambition to become the world’s best regional Smart Port.
5G Studio
Ulster University’s Studio Ulster and Advanced Wireless Technologies Lab are unlocking ‘5G-in-a-box’ technology to connect film, television, and screen production teams, filming in remote locations, to production studios in real-time, via a high-capacity 5G private network which will accelerate screen production processes in the industry.
5G Construction
Queen’s University is harnessing 5G, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Digital Twin technology and AR (Augmented Reality) to support the design and construction of a £100 million, state-of-the-art Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
5G Transport
NI’s public transport provider, Translink is exploiting advanced wireless connectivity to enable enhanced operations and network planning along its Glider bus routes. This will further improve services, maximise and optimise resources and ensure continued development of high quality, sustainable and attractive Glider services.
5G Funding Competition
Our £280,000 5G funding competition is supporting businesses and organisations in the Belfast region to harness the power of 5G and digital technologies to deliver enhanced operations and services.
5G Enablement Programme
We are working with Digital Catapult to deliver an Enablement Programme which will foster Northern Ireland’s advanced wireless ecosystem through a range of outreach and engagement activities to attract investment, build skills and capacity, share knowledge, and identify opportunities for economic growth.
This includes:
- creating a 5G Adoption Toolkit to support local businesses and organisations
- developing a Sustainability and Commercialisation Plan for the Belfast 5G Innovation Region ecosystem and use cases
- disseminating learnings and insights from local 5G use cases as well as from across the UK.
Latest news
5G Funding Competition opens
A new £280,000 funding competition is supporting local businesses and industries in the Belfast region to harness the power of 5G and digital technologies to deliver enhanced operations and solutions.
Belfast region secures £3.8m in wireless innovation funding and becomes 5G Innovation Region
The Belfast region, led by Belfast City Council, has secured £3.8 million wireless innovation funding from the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to deliver an exciting range of innovative projects powered by 5G.
Funding and partners
The Belfast 5G Innovation Region programme has received £3.8 million of funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as part of their UK 5G Innovation Regions programme.
Our partners include five other councils in the Belfast Region City Deal area: Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Lisburn and Castlereagh, Mid and East Antrim, and Newry, Mourne and Down.
More information
Contact us
Get in touch if you would like to find out more about the Belfast 5G Innovation Region programme.
City Innovation Office, Belfast City Council