Our HUB-IN (Hub of Innovation) project along Belfast’s Maritime Mile is exploring how digital innovation can help to sustain, enhance, and preserve the unique heritage of the city’s waterfront area.

Belfast City Council’s City Innovation Office is working with the Maritime Belfast Trust to deliver the four year project as part of a €7.9 million European initiative that aims to transform historic urban areas through innovation and spread public benefits from urban regeneration.

The Maritime Mile connects key attractions, public realm, sculptures and viewing points on both sides of the River Lagan – and our Belfast HUB-IN project is looking at innovative ways to further enrich and animate this space and encourage locals and visitors to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city’s seafaring and industrial heritage and its stunning waterfront.

By working with innovators and neighbouring communities we’ll support people to develop entrepreneurial and digital innovation skills and foster new business opportunities to help further transform our heritage waterfront into a dynamic destination and hub of innovation.

Belfast HUB-IN Challenge Fund

£120,000 of funding has been awarded to six proposals from Belfast’s creative and digital businesses, artists and innovators to develop innovative visitor experiences to animate and enrich the city’s Maritime Mile.

They will collaborate with heritage organisations and communities along the Maritime Mile in early 2024 to develop prototypes which use technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, to encourage more visitors and local people to explore the historic area which connects attractions, sculptures and viewing points on both sides of the River Lagan.

Belfast HUB-IN Roadmap and Action Plan

HUB-IN Roadmap

We engaged with over 1,500 citizens, businesses, innovators, heritage and voluntary organisations, and city partners to co-create our Belfast HUB-IN Roadmap which includes the overall vision, values and missions of the project.

The Belfast HUB-IN at the Maritime Mile will be:

  1. Inclusive, accessible, and connected to local communities.
  2. Sustainable.
  3. Innovative, open, outward looking, and culturally, economically and creatively energetic.
  4. Future proofed, connecting the past to the future.
  5. An environment for collaboration and new partnerships across its inhabitants.

HUB-IN Action Plan

Our HUB-IN Action Plan includes three main actions:

  1. Develop a framework for a full connected Belfast Waterfront Promenade which sets out a long-term vision for the development of the Maritime Mile.
  2. Develop and launch a challenge funding competition for local creatives to explore innovative ways to preserve and promote local heritage and the use of the Maritime Mile.
  3. Develop a sustainability audit of businesses in the area to support the Maritime Mile to become a recognised sustainable destination.

Map of Maritime Mile

View the Maritime Mile interactive map or downloadable map.
Map of Maritime Mile showing key visitor attractions, sculptures and viewing points.

More information

Find out more about the Belfast Hub-IN project at www.maritimebelfast.com/hub-in.

The HUB-IN initiative includes cities in Portugal, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Slovenia and Romania. You can find out more about the HUB-IN network at https://energy-cities.eu/project/hub-in. You can also follow EUHUBIN on Twitter and Facebook.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 869429.

Heritage and innovation workshop –
A roadmap for the Belfast HUB-IN