Belfast is a city of creators and inventors.
Innovation is in our DNA.
Our city is home to a vibrant community of entrepreneurs, start-ups, IDEs and enterprises benefiting from the world-leading research activities of our two universities, and the city’s status as the most digitally connected place in the UK. Such ingredients make Belfast a great place to nurture new ideas, to grow businesses, and to solve urban challenges for the benefit of citizens.
Innovation City Belfast is committed to harnessing these and our many other strengths, to grow the city’s proposition as a globally significant location to invest in innovation.
The partnership includes Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour, Belfast Met, Catalyst, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University, with Invest Northern Ireland as an advisory partner.
ICB is particularly committed to maximising the impact of the Belfast Region City Deal’s forthcoming investments in five new university innovation centres and its £120 million digital innovation programme.
Our vision and priorities
Belfast is a place where global excellence in innovation supports inclusive economic growth, delivers more and better jobs, and has a sustainable positive impact on our city, its citizens and the wider region.
Our priorities:
- Attract public and private sector investment
- Maximise the societal and economic impact of our innovation ecosystem
- Foster public-private collaborations
- Enhance and leverage our digital Infrastructure
- Grow our entrepreneurial ecosystem
- Nurture a responsive public policy environment
Smart City Expo World Congress, 4-6 November 2025
We’re delighted to be at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona as part of the UK Pavilion. Visit us at Hall 3, Stand D131.
As the world’s biggest and most influential event for cities and urban innovation, the congress brings together 25,000 visitors, tech industry leads and innovators from more than 130 countries to attract investment, tackle societal challenges and grow urban economies.
- View the UK Pavilion website for information on discussion panels, networking events and other opportunities to meet with Innovation City Belfast.
Key ICB events
From Sandbox to Scale: How are Testbeds Accelerating Innovation Adoption Across UK Regions
Tuesday 4 November, 2pm – 2.35pm, UK Pavilion: Hall 3, Stand D131
ICB speaker: Mike Dawson, People and Digital Transformation Director, Belfast Harbour
The panel will discuss how testbeds enable place-based innovation by trialling emerging technologies in real-world settings. When applied to local challenges like transport or public health, they offer controlled environments for experimentation. This helps de-risk investment through validation, user insights, and measurable impact -informing smarter procurement and accelerating adoption across regions.
From Ideas to Implementation: Practical Steps for More Liveable Cities
Tuesday 4 November, 3.05pm – 3.50pm, Main Programme, People First Stage
ICB speaker: Deirdre Ferguson, City Innovation Programme Lead, Belfast City Council
The panel will discuss how cities are turning vision into reality to improve quality of life. Bridging the gap between ambition and action requires practical strategies that prioritize liveability, wellbeing and inclusive urban development. This session will explore how city leaders and innovators are translating ideas into tangible solutions, shaping urban environments that are more connected, equitable and responsive to citizens’ needs.
Building Resilient Places with Data Sharing Infrastructure
Tuesday 4 November, 5.50pm – 6.35pm, Fira’s Agora Stage, Infrastructure & Building
ICB speaker: Dr Adrian Johnston, Innovation Commissioner, Innovation City Belfast
Cities are grappling with a perfect storm of infrastructure challenges: aging buildings, increased flooding, and rising temperatures are straining systems that were never designed for today’s climate extremes. Failing infrastructure leads to cascading impacts on people and transport systems. The panel will discuss how digital infrastructure, such as data sharing infrastructure can help tackle the environmental and social problems cities face UK cities today.
How Tech can improve the efficiency of UK transport
Wednesday 5 November, 10am – 10.35am, UK Pavilion, Hall 3 Stand D131
ICB speaker: Mike Dawson, People and Transformation Director, Belfast Harbour
The panel will discuss how technology is making UK transport smarter and greener, with AI, data, and automation powering seamless journeys and faster, cleaner logistics. These innovations are building connected cities where efficient, sustainable movement, benefits everyone.
Driving a more inclusive future for the UK
Wednesday 5 November, 11am to 11.35am, UK Pavilion, Hall 3 stand D131
ICB speaker: Dr Adrian Johnston, Innovation Commissioner, Innovation City Belfast
This panel explores how inclusive innovation, policy, and place-based strategies can shape a fairer future for communities across the UK. Speakers will share insights on unlocking opportunity through collaboration, investment, and inclusive design – ensuring no one is left behind in the UK’s transformation journey.
Opportunities for collaboration
Momentum One Zero
£70 million state-of-the-art facilities bringing together over 550 data-driven experts to tackle global challenges in agri-food, digital health, net zero, cyber security, FinTech and wireless.
Centre for Digital Healthcare Technology
£42 million innovation ecosystem with clinical and community living labs focused on the development of digital healthcare solutions in cardiology, diabetes, respiratory and stroke.
Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre
£100 million Factory of the Future digitalising manufacturing, smart design, sustainable composites and polymers and smart nanotech.
Belfast Smart Port
Belfast Harbour is driving digital transformation across transport, logistics, supply chain, shipping and port operations. It’s working with partners as a testbed for use case applications in AI, 5G, IoT and Connected Autonomous Vehicles.
Global Open Innovation Network
Catalyst supports start-ups and scale-ups along each stage of their entrepreneurial and innovation journey. The Open Innovation Network supports these innovators to build opportunities and relationships in other countries.
AI Collaboration Centre
Building skills, training, business awareness and adoption of AI to boost competitiveness and productivity across all industries including logistics, finance, life sciences, manufacturing and Agri-Tech.
Innovation Challenge Fund
A £120 million fund to stimulate mission-driven collaboration between academia, industry, innovators, public bodies and the citizen. It aims to maximise the wider societal and economic impact of the Belfast region’s connected innovation landscape.
Latest news
New Belfast Innovation Commissioner appointed
Innovation City Belfast has appointed Dr Adrian Johnston MBE as the city’s new Innovation Commissioner. He will officially take up the role in January 2025. Currently Director of Strategic Business Development at Catalyst, and a former director at Digital Catapult NI, Adrian brings over 25 years of industry and innovation experience to the role.
Belfast and South Korean city of Sejong become innovation twins
Belfast has signed an Innovation Twins Roadmap with the South Korean city, Sejong to collaborate on research, business and projects that harness urban innovation to support growth in their respective regions.
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.
Business leaders connected to a decade of £1 billion Belfast Region City Deal opportunities
The transformative programme of investment is creating valuable opportunities for Belfast and the regional economy.
Belfast Lord Mayor welcomes South Korean Ambassador to Belfast City Hall ahead of Sejong trade visit
Belfast Lord Mayor, Councillor Ryan Murphy, welcomed South Korean Ambassador Yoon to Belfast City Hall on his first visit to the Belfast city region ahead of a trade mission to Sejong to progress collaboration and formally commit to an Innovation Twins Roadmap to support bi-lateral trade and research and innovation.
Belfast harnesses innovation to deliver urban transformation
Belfast City Council has announced proposals for a Smart District that will harness digital innovation to support the transformation of Belfast city centre. The Smart District is one of several initiatives in the council’s new Smart Belfast Urban Innovation Framework.
NI’s first self-driving shuttle service is coming to Belfast Harbour Estate
One of the first fully driverless transport systems anywhere in the UK is to be launched in Belfast in 2024 as part of an innovative project led by Belfast Harbour with funding from Innovate UK.