Northern Ireland: A Global Success Story Across Six Thriving Sectors
An unbeatable combination of world-class talent, highly competitive operating costs, a business-friendly environment and a resilient infrastructure has fuelled Northern Ireland’s success on the global stage. Here are six thriving sectors!
1. Fintech & Financial Services
Northern Ireland is a globally recognised fintech hub boasting a robust cluster of firms dedicated to crafting and deploying cutting-edge governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) technology solutions tailored for the worldwide banking, asset management, and payments sectors. Northern Ireland is second in the world for Fintech inward investment (FT FDI Markets, 2023, with Belfast ranking as the top city. There are approximately 24,000 people employed in Financial Services in Northern Ireland.
2. Creative Technologies
Northern Ireland is a flourishing creative hub. Areas of expertise include animation, gaming, interactive content and film & tv production. Unless you’re living under a rock, you will have heard of Game of Thrones, The Fall, Derry Girls or Line of Duty; just a few examples of Northern Ireland’s growing prominence in the global film and television industry.
3. Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering
Employment in the NI manufacturing sector has in recent years grown more than four times faster than the rest of the UK. In particular, Northern Ireland is a global leader in aerospace manufacturing, with one in three aircraft seats manufactured in the region.
4. Life & Health Sciences
The Life and Health Sciences sector is worth £1.9 billion to Northern Ireland’s economy. The sector boasts a thriving cluster of over 250 companies employing over 27,000 people. Areas of expertise include prevision medicine, clinical trails, diagnostics, med-tech, pharma and bio-tech.
5. Hospitality & Tourism
Hospitality and Tourism supports over 70,000 jobs across the region making it one of Northern Ireland’s most important economic sectors.
6. Food & Drink
The food and drink industry in Northern Ireland is valued at £7 billion. Local suppliers are in the unique position of being able to sell products to European Union (EU) countries without any barriers. NI exports products to over 70 countries making the food and drink sector the largest manufacturer in the region.
