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One recent example is a pill developed in Northern Ireland by CV6 Therapeutics to treat the most common and deadly cancers .
Professor of Molecular Virology Queen ’ s University Belfast , Ultan Power is another of the city ’ s most reputed ambassadors . Due in part to the professor ’ s advocacy efforts , Belfast became the UK ’ s first destination to welcome OPTIONS in 2022 , a four-day event based around controlling influenza . The World Health Organisation then decided that Belfast ’ s growing reputation merited the 70th anniversary symposium of their Global Influenza Surveillance .
On the back of this event , ICC also hosted the International Respiratory Syncytial Virus ( RSV ) Society ’ s symposium that same year . In total , the three events attracted over 1,600 delegates from around the globe . These included several of the most prominent scientists responsible for developing the Covid-19 vaccines .
Elite sectors Health-tech With a legacy dating back to the development of the world ’ s first portable defibrillator in 1965 , Northern Ireland remains at the forefront of many sub-sectors within healthcare . Its two globally-recognised universities , Ulster University and Queen ’ s University Belfast are accompanied by
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17 research centres and over a thousand skilled researchers . There is a degree of integration of academic research and clinical practice not found in many other parts of the globe .
Key events :
• AstraZeneca ‘ A New Perspective ’ 2020 conference
• Joint Fertility Conference
• Harkin Summit
• OPTIONS
Agri-tech Belfast physician William Drennan dubbed Ireland the Emerald Isle . The northern regions certainly warrant the moniker , with huge biodiversity and over a million hectares of farmed land .
Technology involving genomics , food traceability , advanced packaging , plant and animal health , and artificial intelligence are all areas in which Northern Ireland is currently conducting leading research .
Key events :
• Fields Good Regenerative Agriculture Festival
• Agronomy and Business Management Conference for Arable Growers
Advanced manufacturing and engineering
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Left : Harkin Summit |
Another high-tech industry with a strong foothold in Belfast is advanced manufacturing and engineering . The Northern Irish capital was the birthplace of Lord Kelvin , inventor of the Kelvin Scale , and home of John Boyd Dunlop , the creator of the pneumatic tyre .
During the Industrial Revolution , Belfast was Ireland ’ s most prominent industrial centre , and the site where the RMS Titanic was built ( in what was then the world ’ s largest shipyard ).
Professor Falzon writes that Belfast was the platform for discussing and designing many breakthrough ideas . The International Conference on Composite Materials 2023 ( ICCM23 ) featured tours to Spirit AeroSystems , Artemis Technologies , the Northern Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering Centre , and testing labs and research centres at Queen ’ s University Belfast . “ ICCM delegates will remember Belfast as a catalyst for change ,” he says .
Key events :
• International Conference of Composite Materials
Software and cybersecurity Over 100 cybersecurity companies are currently operating in Northern Ireland , including Allstate , Aflac and Citi . Security giants IBM Security , Rapid6 , Imperva and Cygilant have all chosen to headquarter their European operations in Belfast . Major global companies have also joined the landscape , with PwC , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , BDO and BT all conducting cyber security operations in Belfast .
Out of this busy ecosystem was born a world-leading cybersecurity organisation , the Centre for Secure Information Technologies . The centre has discovered through research that 79 % jobs in the NI cyber security sector are at firms headquartered outside Northern Ireland . As a small city , Belfast is home to few native
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