It’s Good News Friday as we celebrate Seagate’s £42 million nanotechnology grant win!

Seagate Technology, a Chamber member based in the Springtown Industrial Estate, have won the grant from the UK Research and Innovation, the UK Government’s national science funding agency. The funding will be used to develop new technology for medical devices, communications, and data storage. Other consortium members include Ulster University, North West Regional College, and more leading businesses and academic bodies.

Nanotechnology is the application of knowledge to create extremely small components at the same scale of atoms and molecules. The prestigious grant comes from the UKRI’s Strength in Places Fund, a programme that helps areas to build on existing strengths in research and innovation to deliver benefits for their local economy.

Today’s news is another example of the burgeoning tech sector we are developing here in the North West. This multi-million pound grant will allow world-leading research to be conducted by Seagate and others, adding to the North West’s specialties in areas such as fintech, health and life sciences, and more. And with the City Deal on the horizon, the future is bright for our already thriving technology sector here.

Smart Nano NI is the nanotech developer consortium awarded the £42m funding. Dr Mark Gubbins, from the consortium, said:

“We can now advance Northern Ireland’s niche capability around smart nano-manufacturing and world-leading knowledge in photonics to create a self-sustaining local industry. It allows us to capitalise on the combined expertise of our companies and the availability of trained researchers and resources across our academic institutions.”

We would like to congratulate Seagate on their continued success and look forward to hearing more about the results of this amazing news!