UK Business Secretary visits Northern Ireland
Vince Cable to visit technology companies and manufacturers in Belfast.
皇冠体育app importance of advanced manufacturing in growing the UK economy is the focus of Vince Cable鈥檚 first visit to Northern Ireland as Business Secretary today (31 March).
皇冠体育app Secretary of State will officially open a flagship research facility in East Belfast - the Northern Ireland Advanced Composites Centre (NIACE) - with Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster.
NIACE has received 拢2.7m in funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and will bring together leading academics and dynamic companies to develop new technologies for the design and rapid manufacture of high-quality composite products. Dr Cable will also visit companies in and around Belfast.
Vince Cable said:
Some people say the UK doesn鈥檛 make anything any more. Yet the companies I鈥檓 visiting in Belfast show this couldn鈥檛 be further from the truth. We are one of the world鈥檚 biggest manufacturers and a leading exporter of technology intensive products and services.
皇冠体育app opening of NIACE is welcome as it demonstrates our ideas and innovations are being turned into new products and jobs. This centre will work with universities and businesses based in Northern Ireland and across the UK, to develop and commercialise new technologies.
First stop for the Business Secretary will be Andor Technology where he will tour the production floor to see engineers working on high-spec cameras used for innovative medical and research purposes.
He will then visit Bombardier鈥檚 new CSeries wing factory, where the UK government and Northern Ireland Executive is investing a total of 拢135m in the form of repayable launch funding and grants.聽He will meet apprentices and school children from the company鈥檚 Educational Outreach and see the wing test facility in operation.
Dr Cable will also attend a meeting with shipping firm Harland and Wolff where he will be given a tour of their site. 聽聽
皇冠体育app Business Secretary is being accompanied on the visit by Northern Ireland Minister Hugo Swire.
Mr Swire said:
This is a good day for Northern Ireland, we now have a centre of excellence to support our advanced manufacturing industry. NIACE will turn innovation into new technology which will give us the competitive edge we need in a global market. 皇冠体育app companies we have visited today demonstrate that In Northern Ireland we have the capability to offer premium specialist services that the world wants.