£42.4m has been awarded to Smart Nano NI, a Northern Ireland nano technology consortium to develop new technology for medical devices, communication and data storage, across the province.

The funding, which was awarded by the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund has the capacity to support the scaling up of device manufacturing to develop hundreds of jobs across the sector.

Smart Nano NI is led by data company Seagate Technology in collaboration with Analytics Engines, Causeway Sensors, Cirdan Imaging, Digital Catapult NI, North West Regional College, Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and Yelo (the “Consortium”). The eight partners form a corridor of expertise from Londonderry to Belfast.

The funding award was made after a highly competitive process with projects from across the UK. It will further consolidate Northern Ireland’s position as a global leader for excellence in the field of nano technologies as well as delivering a significant and lasting impact on our local economy.

Welcoming the announcement on behalf of Derry City and Strabane District Council Mayor Warke said this investment was very positive news for the nano technologies sector that supported the excellent work being done on innovation and medical research being done here and identified for growth as part of the City Deal projects.

He said: “The key element of this investment is the involvement of the research and delivery partners who will be working collectively to ensure these prototyping and smart manufacturing methods are developed across medical services and data storage across the region. I am particularly delighted that the collaboration will enable the establishment of a Centre of Excellence that will assist with advancing projects in Life and Health Sciences. Council played a proactive role with the partners during the bid stage – the investment of over £110m in Digital, Innovation and Health projects contained within our City Deal certainly strengthens the North West’s ability to access these types of major funding sources.

“This investment comes at an important time strategically for our city and region as we move forward to the next stages of the City Deal process. I am confident that the investment announcement today will have a major impact on our economy and provide is with the necessary support we need as we work towards Covid recovery and take forward the City Deal innovation projects that will transform our city and region.”