Reinvigoration in process - UK Electronics Ireland

If you go back a couple of decades, the electronics industry in Northern Ireland was dominated by multinationals, with companies such as Nortel, Seagate and Thales providing much of the employment. But times have changed. The dominance of those big companies has gone. So what are the prospects for Northern Ireland's electronics industry? Professor John McCanny is director of ECIT, the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology within Queen's University Belfast (QUB). He has been a central figure in Northern Ireland's academic world for some years and has cofounded two successful high tech companies – Audio Processing Technology and Amphion Semiconductor. So what does he see going on? "What we have in Northern Ireland is quite a few innovative start ups," he enthused. "We have companies such as Andor, developing specialist scientific cameras, and APTX, working on audio compression. There are companies like Schrader building electronic pressure sensors for cars and the ICT sector has grown a lot. Another interesting company is BCO Technology, which develops silicon bonded wafers and is now owned by Analog Devices. "Northern Ireland electronics has grown in a number of ways. We're a small region where almost everyone knows each other. We're working with Invest Northern Ireland to attract interest from overseas." Prof McCanny's ECIT has been a major part of this renaissance. When ECIT opened in 2004, it was one of the first organisations on the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP). Now, it's just one of a number of buildings in which 1800 people pursue high tech work. "The purpose of the science park is to take individual parts and create a system that will accelerate development," said Prof McCanny. "It's based on the San Diego Connect model, where a wide range of people are brought together to work with each other." That initiative is NISP Connect, which aims to foster entrepreneurship by accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. Its core purpose is to connect people, technology and capital to drive innovation and create wealth through building high value IP based companies in Northern Ireland. According to NISP Connect, it wants to help to establish a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem where innovation, vision and talent flourish. NISP says that, despite the recession, a continual flow of global hi tech brands are migrating to the region, drawn in by a combination of geography, infrastructure and skills. Mervyn Watley, NISP's director of corporate real estate and facilities, said: "The recession has hit hard in certain sectors, but there are areas of growth. Due to the combination of geography and infrastructure, Northern Ireland is coming through as the hot location for cloud computing technologies. For example, IBM's takeover of Intelliden provided a great endorsement of innovation and excellence in areas such as cloud computing – which is one of global businesses' cutting edge concepts. It's a good barometer of how the region is viewed internationally." Noel McKenna, ceo of APTX, noted: "The true value proposition of Northern Ireland – an integral part of the UK, but with good friends in the US, Republic of Ireland, and Asia – comes about thanks to all those world class designers and project managers working in the indigenous engineering industries here. The province sustains a youthful, smart and enterprising workforce who do go that 'extra mile' to get the job done. Furthermore, many new skilled and motivated immigrants are making NI their new home." ECIT, a major part of the reinvigoration of Northern Ireland electronics, is also a success in its own right. "When we set up," said Prof McCanny, "there was a lot of optimism and goodwill, but concern about whether it would work. ECIT is now well ahead of expectations." Prof McCanny believes ECIT's success is not only down to not compromising on its research, but also working to create what he calls a 'more savvy' industry. "We work closely with companies, sharing their road maps, so we can see patterns emerging and can put resources behind the things we believe will be important. It's an open innovation environment. But we're not just Northern Ireland centric. While we do things that support the local economy, we see ourselves working in the wider world." Part of those resources is what Prof McCanny calls a germinator, rather than an incubator. "We're providing flexibility for early stage start ups who don't have to come from our research base; people who are doing interesting things and who need somewhere to work." And it is this enthusiasm that typifies Northern Ireland today. APTX's McKenna explained. "NISP is Northern Ireland's own Silicon Valley in the making – a high technology enterprise zone with a rich infrastructure. It's not just the built environment – communications links and local access to capital, finance and legal expertise – but also the pool of incredibly talented professional people who want to make serious headway in their chosen career." Prof McCanny pointed out the growing momentum of NISP. "We're finding companies that used to be in North Belfast are now moving to NISP where they can be alongside ECIT." One of the most recent companies to move is APTX. McKenna said: "APTX moved to NISP to take full advantage of the greater space to grow, the better networking opportunities, better connections to technology and to the international prestige of this young and vibrant science park." One of the criticisms of UK electronics in general, and one which also applies in Northern Ireland, is the lack of venture capital. Prof McCanny noted: "While there is much greater awareness of venture capital, the situation is not as good as it was. Having said that, there are small funds available in the area." ECIT is itself a reflection of what's happening in the surrounding NISP buildings. "When we set up ECIT, we brought together people with complementary skills. We can't solve problems with chip designers," he continued, "we need other people and we're trying to bring them together." McKenna believes Northern Ireland's skills base is 'deep and wide'. "There is strong concentration of electronics, semiconductor and telecommunications expertise, thanks largely to the prowess of the QUB's schools of electronic engineering and computer science and the presence of ECIT." Interestingly, Northern Ireland has never had direct communications with North America; all traffic is routed via London and Cornwall. Now, with Project Kelvin, it has a 40Gbit fibre optic link with the US. Prof McCanny believes this should bring considerable competitive advantage. "But we have to work out how to use it to best effect." For the future, Prof McCanny says the region needs to address high value add. "We need to be smart and to keep ahead of the game. We can have all the glossy brochures but, at the end of the day, what makes people come to Northern Ireland? Only when you have something they need. "There's something happening in Northern Ireland. A lot of people have been talking about the findings of the Hauser innovation review, but I think we've been doing those things for 10 years," he concluded.