Draft Economic Strategy for Belfast Executive Summary 2022 - 2030

Published online November 2022

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Focus on Priority Technologies
   Digital, ICT and Creative Industries
   FinTech and Financial Services
   Life and Health Sciences
   Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering
3. Policy Solutions: Summary
4. Policy Solutions: our emerging action plan
5. Appendix 1: Glossary

1. Introduction

This Belfast Economic Strategy sets a roadmap for the growth and development of Belfast’s economy from 2022 to 2030. It defines a set of levers to accelerate growth and create impact for local communities, support the long-term goals of the Belfast Agenda to 2035, and create a sustainable future for our city. The aim of this Economic Strategy is to deliver the promise of Belfast’s economic potential and position it as a driver for prosperity and growth across the region.​

While this strategy focuses on the role of the council in supporting sustainable and inclusive economic growth, it acknowledges the limitations of the responsibilities that fall directly within the council’s remit. It therefore identifies areas in which the council might lead as well as highlighting those activities that we way need to influence or develop in collaboration with other partners. Given the complex governance structures, partnership working is a critical foundation pillar for the work that we have to undertake in this space. The buy-in and support of our city partners will therefore be critical to the success of this strategy. 

Belfast is a capital city reinvented for the 21st century. The Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) recognises the role of the Belfast Region as “a driver for a rejuvenated NI economy.” Our economic strategy will renew our focus on delivering growth and innovation that will drive prosperity within Belfast and more widely across the region. Belfast is the regional economic centre, and it is critical that it feeds and fertilises economic activity beyond the city through the diffusion of investment, innovation and know how.

This draft strategy follows the same view as “A Bolder Vision” which reimagines the city centre, recognising the importance of interconnections between climate, the economy, urban design, health and resilience in shaping a sustainable future for our city. 

It focuses on defining our priorities for growth and re-focusing on our strengths, doubling down on those areas in which we have competitive advantage – or have the potential to build that position. We will build on the momentum fuelled by BRCD in highly productive technologies such as creative, digital and data analytics; financial services and FinTech; life and health sciences and MedTech; and advanced manufacturing and engineering.

The draft strategy also focuses on investing in priority technologies, reducing barriers to participation in the labour market, improving opportunities for upskilling at all educational levels, building employment pathways to advanced technologies and attracting skilled workers to support the city’s growth. 

The strategy is supported by a series of short, medium and long-term policy solutions to deliver inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Belfast City Council cannot deliver these actions alone. We will build on the city-wide partnerships developed through the community planning partnership commitments, working with public and private sector stakeholders, local communities, and academics to make things happen.

While this is undoubtedly a time of economic turbulence, it is arguable that now – more than ever – we need to have a clear routemap that provides direction and sets the course of action. It gives confidence to potential investors and provides clarity for our partners – enabling them to understand our priorities and principles and setting a strong foundation for productive working arrangements. It also provides a framework around which we can coalesce our internal resources and maximise their impact, in a period of significant fiscal challenge. 

The strategy is built around the following guiding principles:

• Just Transition: The aim of a just transition is to minimise the potential harms and maximise the opportunities as we move to a low carbon economy. No one should be left behind by the transition to net zero. The principle of a just transition underpins the thinking in this strategy
• Inclusivity: Our strategy has the clear ambition of growing the economy inclusively. Inclusive growth will increase economic growth while reducing the gaps between the living standards of local residents. This strategy will be a key lever in delivering on the Belfast Agenda’s inclusive growth ambitions, enabling communities to fulfil their potential and to participate in and benefit from economic growth. This strategy also shares the ambitions of the Belfast Innovation and Inclusive Growth Commission’s (IIGC) Reset for Growth recommendations on using innovation and skills to drive inclusive growth across the city
• Resilience and Sustainability: This involves setting Belfast on a pathway to reach our decarbonisation ambition to be Carbon neutral by 2050. A sustainable future also includes building the resilience of our communities, economy, and infrastructure to the realities of the Climate Emergency.
• Innovation-focused: The UK innovation strategy defines innovation broadly as “the creation and application of new knowledge to improve the world.” We follow this broad definition – innovation is not simply measured by spending on research and development or by the number of patent applications, but also includes the extent to which businesses adopt and use new technologies, how we embed skills development into our economy, and how we translate great ideas into marketable, investable products. Our economic strategy targets an innovation-driven economy that supports new ideas and helps turn them into investable realities that will deliver benefits for innovators, their staff and their communities
• Evidence-driven and collaborative: Our strategy is based on robust evidence from existing academic and policy literature and field evidence from stakeholders from within Belfast City Council. We have also engaged with partners including Innovation City Belfast, Invest NI, Department for the Economy, Department for Communities, Tourism NI, and the Department for International Trade in the development of the strategy and its recommendations.

Figure 1: Summary of Belfast Economic Strategy 2022 - 2030

This strategy will deliver just, inclusive, and sustainable growth in Belfast, allowing the city to continue to drive economic opportunity across Northern Ireland.

We will deliver this vision with 12 strategically-aligned policy actions.

• Inputs from council and key delivery partners
• Secured funding for priority programmes
• Close collaboration across stakeholders
• Enabling transport, energy, and communications infrastructure
• Engagement and support from communities
• Alignment with key regional and national policies

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2. Focus on Priority Technologies

Belfast will prioritise attracting investment and innovation in enabling technologies that will help deliver inclusive and sustainable growth for the city. The technologies have been chosen to align with NI’s vision for a ‘10x Economy’ and complement Belfast’s existing sectoral strengths.

They include:

• Digital, ICT and Creative Industries
• FinTech and Financial Services
• Life and Health Sciences
• Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering

Delivering investment in technologies in these areas should deliver robust growth in output, innovation, and employment in Belfast. Encouraging cluster development in these priority technologies will be key to driving economic growth, delivering agglomeration benefits, and fostering a vibrant business and cultural environment.

Digital, ICT and Creative Industries

Belfast has established itself as a prominent hub in the UK for the digital, ICT, and creative industry. Belfast is the site of investment in cyber security operations for major global digital companies such as Allstate, CME, and Citi. US insurance firm Aflac has opened its Global IT and Cyber Security Innovation Centre in Belfast. Other notable firms in the space include, MetaCompliance, First Derivatives, SaltDNA, Skurio, Uleska, Synopsys, Proofpoint, Cyphra, Vertical Structure, IBM Security, Rapid7, Imperva, Microsoft, Nvidia, Anomali, Contrast Security, Cygilant, B-Secur, Titan IC Ampliphae, Seven Technologies, Liopa.

Belfast’s digital and cyber firms benefit from the city’s expertise in research and development and quality of talent available. Belfast has a talented labour pool with 97.2 per cent of the students performing above the UK Average in Computing at school.

Belfast is also home to a significant and growing cluster in creative industries. It is home is one of the fastest growing creative clusters in the UK, with over 1,600 companies employing 20,000 people. Energised by a £72 million investment in Studio Ulster, one of the BRCD innovation projects, Belfast will house a ‘Tier 1’ centre of excellence in R&D and innovation in virtual production.

FinTech and Financial Services

Belfast has a thriving FinTech industry that consists of services and technological solutions to international clients including banks, insurance companies, and asset management companies. It has been named the third-best location globally for FinTech FDI performance, with FinTech roles making up more than 20 per cent of Belfast’s FDI created jobs between 2014-2018. It is also designated as one of the three FinTech locations of the future and the top ten European Tech Cities of the Future, suggesting a strong potential to attract more foreign investment.

One of the reasons for enjoying such a strong position in FinTech is the location that allows access to European and Irish Financial Services market, and access to the UK-EU FinTech Corridor connecting Belfast and Dublin and a strong link to the USA.

Global firms such as Citi, Allstate, Liberty Mutual and FD Technologies have established and expanded their operations in Belfast, while more recent investors such as CME Group, Vela and TP ICAP have also joined the emergent cluster. 

Currently Belfast’s core strengths in FinTech and financial services lie in RegTech and compliance, TradingTech, InsureTech, cyber security, Artificial Intelligence, and Advanced Analytics. There are roughly 40,000 people employed in this sector across the region, with an estimated GVA of £391.4m.

Life and Health Sciences

The Life and Health Sciences sector has a broad offering in Belfast, including in pharmaceutical, diagnostics, connected health, medical devices and biotechnology. 

The city has developed as a pioneering centre for new technologies, and is one of Europe’s leading destination cities for new medical software development projects. Its strong creative and digital technologies and R&D engineering expertise have supported this sector’s growth. Additionally, the work of leading universities in Belfast has been instrumental in the success of the sector. For example, the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology Facility at Queen’s University has shown progress in cancer research and the Connected Health Innovation Centre at Ulster University leads research which aligns care needs with technology providers, researchers, and clinical experience. These universities are ranked among the top 10 in the UK for bioscience research.

Belfast is well positioned to capitalise on opportunities in life and health sciences because of the existing strong base of market leading companies located across the region. Some of the core strength of NI includes - precision medicine, medical technology, diagnostics, eHealth and clinical trials with multiple global and local players like Norbrook, Almac Group limited, Randox, Thrive/C-TRIC, Neuroconsise, Sonrai, Strkyer, StatSports, Terumo, Ciga, CV6 Therapeutics, Teva Pharmaceutical Groups and B Secur.

Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering

Belfast is recognised for its expertise in manufacturing and advanced engineering with the sector contributing over £1 billion to the local economy. A key anchor for this growth is the aerospace engineering sector, with players such as Spirit AeroSystems operating in the city for over 70 years. The city also has expertise in marine manufacturing, supporting the needs of the maritime, offshore, and renewable energy technologies and has a dynamic cluster of businesses that specialise in the conversion, assembly, and logistics for renewable energy products.

Belfast is home to a number of key assets that support academic and industry engagement in order to encourage innovation, develop new technologies and products and bring forward new research and insights to transform the local economic base.  These include the Northern Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering Centre (NIACE), the Centre for Competitiveness and the Polymer Processing Research Centre (PPRC) which brings together engineering companies and knowledge providers. The proposed AMIC development that is part of the BRCD investment will complement these assets and encourage further university-industry collaboration around the “factory of the future”. 

Some of the major players in the region are Spirit AeroSystems (formerly Bombardier), Wrightbus, Artemis, Seagate and Caterpillar.

Approach to investment in other sectors

While these priority technologies are likely to form core components of our investment in the coming years, it is important to recognise that Belfast has a diverse business base.  There are a number of sectors that, while supporting substantial job creation and contributing to the city’s economic output, do not feature as one of the priority technologies identified above. 

This draft strategy recognises the rationale for focusing on the four priority technologies.  However, it also reflects our view that these technologies can be important foundation pillars for other business sectors such as tourism, hospitality and professional services.  As such, we envisage taking an approach of making investments that reflect the underlying commitment to supporting sustainable and inclusive economic growth across a broad spectrum of business types and sectors.

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3. Policy Solutions

The Draft Economic Strategy proposes the following shortlisted 12 policy solutions to fulfil the objectives of this strategy. The table below provides a summary of the shortlisted policy actions and associated targets:

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4. Our emerging action plan

Actions in depth

This section discusses each of the actions in greater detail, including the rationale for action, targets, and specific actions to be taken to achieve the objectives of the strategy. There is no order of priority between the 12 actions since the delivery of all the actions is essential to achieving the objectives.

1. Developing infrastructure for sustainable growth

Our Ambition

Belfast will have world-class wireless connectivity. A civic spine will be the focal point for major educational, cultural, business and retail anchors. There will be a focus on place-making and enhancing green and blue infrastructure, supported by effective sustainable and active travel connections for all.

Our Areas of Focus

We will shape a vibrant city that delivers inclusive growth, attracts investment, and fosters innovation, supporting the Bolder Vision for city centre regeneration.  We have taken a broad definition of ‘infrastructure’ including roads, public transport, electric vehicle charging networks, digital connectivity (including fibre and wireless), energy and water utilities, community facilities, housing, and civic spaces.  We have identified these as being critical “foundation pillars” for our economic strategy.

What We Will Do

• We will work to develop communications infrastructure across the city to deliver wireless infrastructure so that by 2030 70 per cent of Belfast’s SMEs will have or will be planning to use 5g deployments in their business activities. We will explore other advanced wireless infrastructure requirements as part of Smart Belfast’s Urban Innovation Framework and the Belfast Smart District to provide access to industry, SMEs and public sector partners to test and trial innovation wireless-enabled technologies in an urban environment. In the medium to long term Belfast City Council and BRCD partners will initiate a £30 million advanced wireless programme to stimulate and aggregate demand for advanced wireless innovation; address issues of deployment and asset management; and seek to invest in enabling infrastructure that will attract private sector investment.
• Belfast City Council, NIHE and DfC will explore the establishment of a delivery vehicle to use public land as well as land assembly powers to facilitate new low carbon housing at scale across the city.  This vehicle will support the development of 11,500 new homes by 2031.
• We will improve transport infrastructure through the delivery of a number of specific actions including:
  • Rapidly increasing the number of EV charging points across the city
  • Engagement with the Department for Communities and the Department for Infrastructure to make city centre inner ring junctions more pedestrian- and cycle-friendly. This will include supporting BRCD investments in Lagan cycling routes and pedestrian bridge connections
  • Developing the city’s transport infrastructure to connect communities to each other and to job opportunities. Through support for phase 2 of the Belfast Rapid Transport project (the Glider), we will improve connectivity between North and South Belfast, as well as across the city
• We will work with our partners to deliver on the Local Development Plan (LDP) policy to ensure Belfast’s infrastructure is investor ready.  We will focus on the foundational utilities and functions required to attract investors, including electricity and gas connections, digital connectivity, waste management, and wastewater.

What We Will Achieve

• By 2030, 70 per cent of Belfast SMEs will have or will be planning to use 5g deployments in their business activities.
• By 2035, the city’s population will be increased by 66,000 in alignment with the Belfast Agenda.
• By 2031, Belfast City Council and government partners will have brought forward 11,500 low carbon housing units in the city.
• Belfast will be within the top 40 per cent of UK local authorities for EV charging points per person by 2030.
• By 2022, 80 Battery Electric Vehicles and 20 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles will have entered service within the Belfast Metro fleet, with one third of all Metro services being zero emission by the end of 2022. By 2030, Translink aim to transition all Belfast Metro bus services to zero emission technologies.
• By 2050, we will increase public transport ridership by 2mn per annum.
• By 2027, Belfast City Council will aim to receive zero negative responses to planning applications from NI Water because of insufficient wastewater treatment capacity.
• By 2050, at least 80 per cent of homes and businesses in the city will be protected from tidal and fluvial flood risk.

2. Delivering place-based growth strategies

Our Ambition

Belfast will have thriving innovation clusters advancing developments in priority technologies, creating inclusive employment opportunities, and attracting further investment in priority, high value technologies.

Our Areas of Focus

Belfast has an immediate opportunity to create clusters of innovation around the five flagship BRCD innovation projects. These projects will catalyse business growth through research and development, and focus on innovation in technologies in these sectors:

• Digital, ICT, and Creative Industries (Global Innovation Institute; Studio Ulster)
• FinTech and financial services (Global Innovation Institute)
• Advanced manufacturing (Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre)
• Life and health sciences (Centre for Digital Healthcare Technology; Institute of Research Excellence for Advanced Clinical Healthcare)

The Smart District, Smart Port and Innovation District prioritised through the Innovation City Belfast Partnership will also act as enablers to develop the technology-specific growth clusters, creating positive socio-economic impacts through job-creation and increased investment in innovation. 

What We Will Do

• We will develop place-based growth strategies aligned to each of the priority technologies. These strategies will identify locations in which to target the development of focused clusters of innovation across the city and align with other priorities including the Innovation District, BRCD and LDP. 
• Following the development of the action plans (short-term), we will work over the rest of the period of this strategy to secure resource and ensure delivery on commitments, in partnership with key stakeholders.

What We Will Achieve

• By 2030, we will have developed at least four technology-specific, place-based growth clusters where innovative businesses co-locate near key assets, including those funded by the Belfast Region City Deal.

3. Supporting sustainable and inclusive business models

Our Ambition

Belfast’s businesses will embed inclusion and sustainability as core elements of their business models and the city will be home to a thriving social economy sector, delivering opportunities for local communities.

Our Areas of Focus

Belfast City Council will develop a targeted programme of support for social enterprises and co-operatives.  Research suggests that social enterprises in Northern Ireland earn a significant proportion of their income from grants, rather than trading (58 per cent in Northern Ireland compared to 74 per cent across the UK). We will aim to bring Belfast’s social enterprise performance up to the UK average for trading income, reducing the reliance on grant funding and increasing the resilience and sustainability of social enterprises across the city.

In a recent business survey, more than 90 per cent of Belfast businesses suggested that they regard climate change and sustainability as an important issue. However, most of these businesses acknowledge that they do not have the skills or level of readiness to take action that can help tackle climate change and make their businesses more sustainable.  We intend to work with our partners to provide support that is easily accessible and that helps the businesses to grow in a way that is more sustainable.

What We Will Do

• We will develop a social economy action plan that will focus on building the resilience of the sector.  This will include new financial and support mechanisms. It will also include developing a more coherent approach across the Council, in keeping with the social value procurement policy in particular. 
• We will include a specific focus on social enterprises and co-operatives as part of the renewed approach to business support in Belfast from 2023.  This will allow for support beyond the early stages of social enterprise formation and encourage social entrepreneurs to target more sustainable funding models.
• We will put in place support for the wider business community to review their business practices in line with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.  This will include support for the development of the Belfast Business Promise to encourage businesses to uphold standards of fair and quality employment, environmental impact and sustainability.

What We Will Achieve

• By 2030, we will support 75 per cent of Belfast’s social enterprises to earn greater than 75 per cent of their income from trading revenues, bringing performance in line with UK averages, as opposed to the current proportion of 58 per cent.
• By 2030, we will support over 50 per cent of employers to actively integrate inclusion and sustainability principles into their business operations, to be measured by Belfast Business Sustainability Survey.

4. Enabling a path to net zero

Our Ambition

Belfast will deliver the innovation and investment required to create a sustainable, resilient, and circular economy.

Our areas of focus

Belfast sees itself leading the net zero transition for the region. We will deliver on Belfast’s roadmap for decarbonisation by achieving a 66 per cent reduction in city-wide emissions by 2025, 80 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2050 (based on baseline emissions in 2000). This transition will require significant investment in the city’s infrastructure, with an estimated £1.6bn required for a cost-effective low carbon transition by 2050. The roadmap will include options to transition households, public and commercial buildings, transport, industry and waste to low carbon pathways.

Delivering on this roadmap will require the just transition of current industry to growth consistent with a net zero economy. There is a growing cluster of low-carbon industries and green entrepreneurs active in the city. Many innovators are locating or linked to the development of the Green Port and Net Zero Zone in the Titanic Quarter. These innovative low-carbon businesses include maritime innovations driven by Artemis, which is positioning Belfast at the forefront of Zero emissions maritime transport: and pioneering work on net zero technologies such as green hydrogen.  Our challenge is to build on these “anchors” to support the development of a significant cluster in this space.

We will also look to develop a circular economy in Belfast. Recognising the need to deliver sustainable waste management, we will develop a circular economy strategy to scale up investment in waste management and recycling infrastructure.

What We Will Do

• We will develop a Climate Action Plan and Climate Investment Plan (and net zero pipeline) building physical risk and community resilience for climate change.
• We will develop a Local Area Energy Plan in collaboration with the Energy Systems Catapult which will map the whole energy system (buildings, transport, industry, energy etc.) and identify the most effective pathways to reach net zero in order to prioritise investments. This will enable us to engage businesses and citizens in measures to reduce emissions and energy costs.
• We will develop a circular economy strategy for the city to support improvements in waste management infrastructure aimed at encouraging repair, re-use and recycling of materials and creating more sustainable supply chains.
• We will work to encourage a cluster of businesses focused on developing innovative net zero-focused technologies. This will include bringing forward plans for a Net Zero Innovation Park at Queen’s Island to attract further investment.
• In the longer term, we will continue to encourage the use of collaborative approaches for community-level net zero, sustainability, and resilience measures. This will include encouraging communities, universities, and local businesses to consider the use of living labs as an approach to trial sustainable economy solutions.

What We Will Achieve

• Deliver on Belfast’s roadmap for decarbonisation by achieving a 66 per cent reduction in city-wide emissions by 2025, 80 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2050 (based on baseline emissions in 2000).
• Coordinate the public and private investments of £1.6bn necessary by 2030 to deliver a cost-effective low carbon transition.

5. Improving energy efficiency

Our Ambition

Belfast will benefit from a retrofit investment programme of scale, resourced by a combination of public funds and innovative financing mechanisms.  Council-facilitated investments in energy efficiency will significantly reduce energy consumption (and bills) across housing, public and commercial buildings.

Our Areas of Focus

Achieving energy efficiency will be a critical step to reduce the carbon footprint of the city. It can also generate significant savings for homeowners, businesses and the public sector.

Providing skills development opportunities in retrofitting for the current construction sector workforce will ensure the availability of labour to deliver the energy efficiency objective.  Developing an intervention of scale can create sustainable employment opportunities; support upskilling of local businesses and help progress the retrofitting of the current building stock.  We will consider opportunities to retrofit all buildings across the city, prioritising investment in the public housing stock.

We will also progress new thinking on how this work can be financed – taking account of the challenging public funding environment.  This may include bonds and innovative financing mechanisms.

What We Will Do

• We have established a Retrofit Delivery Hub in Belfast. This brings together NIHE, construction sector bodies, Belfast City Council and academic and research partners to catalyse retrofit activity across the public and private housing sectors in Belfast.
• We will support the upskilling of the construction sector through the development of retrofitting skills programmes at scale.
• We will identify opportunities to adopt new financial models to finance retrofit at scale across the city such as the proposed Just Transition Bond.
• We will encourage efficiency through planning standards promoted through the LDP.  This will include the expectations that new builds will uphold the highest BREEAM standards of energy efficiency.
• We will develop an energy efficiency campaign to educate and inform citizens how to conserve energy use to reduce the financial pressures households will face. We will adopt a targeted approach to reach the most vulnerable and to make this information as accessible as possible.
• We will continue to engage with central government on efficiency standards mandated in building control. This could give the council greater authority to increase the efficiency of the city’s housing stock.

What We Will Achieve

• By 2050, we will have completed the retrofit of up to 75,000 buildings in Belfast, in keeping with the Belfast carbon roadmap target.
• We will support the delivery of training and upskilling to 1,200 individuals by 2030 to ensure that the construction sector can undertake the work required to decarbonise the housing stock.

6. Addressing skills gaps

Our Ambition

We will improve the alignment of skills demand and supply to support sustainable business growth.

Our Areas of Focus

The post-Covid labour market in Belfast has seen significant pressures across a range of vocational areas. While this reflects a wider global challenge, Belfast, in particular, has a skills imbalance.  There is an over-supply of workers entering the labour market with qualifications at NQF (National Qualifications Framework) Level 2 or below and an under-supply in jobs requiring mid-level (NQF 3-5) skill levels.  While Belfast fares well in terms of graduate numbers, demand significantly outstrips supply across a number of vocational areas – particularly in key growth sectors. Addressing this issue will require significant investment in both upskilling and re-skilling, with a focus on those priority sectors.

Attracting and retaining talent can also be an essential way of addressing skills gaps. International companies setting up base in Belfast hire talent at all levels of experience to expand their business. Therefore, having a talented, experienced, and diverse labour pool is necessary to attract more investment to the city. Universities can and do play a key role in attracting talent to the city – they are a critical ingredient in the city’s FDI success story.

However, the cap on student numbers means that it is critical to explore alternative talent development and attraction policies alongside the University excellence.  Working with Invest NI and our government partners, we will explore appropriate talent development and retention strategies in order to support business growth and to attract future investment.

What We Will Do

• We will support the delivery of priority commitments through skills action plans in support of the BRCD investments in centres of innovation excellence.
• We will work with partners to develop a targeted strategy focused on attracting and retaining experienced professionals in priority technologies.
• We will support the Belfast Labour Market Partnership to develop accredited recognition of “on-the-job” skills, with close collaboration between employers and FE and HE institutions.

What We Will Achieve

• We will double the number of Belfast residents entering the labour market each year with mid-level skills (at NQF levels 3-5) to 3,150 by 2027, building off the 2017 estimate of 1,570 people per year.
• We will reduce the proportion of working age population with no qualifications from 14.2 per cent in 2017 to 10 per cent by 2030, in alignment with the Belfast Agenda.

7. Developing inclusive employability programmes

Our Aspiration

We will build inclusive pathways to jobs and careers for those further back in the labour market and we will provide access to better jobs for those who are underemployed through targeted, quality assured and fit-for-purpose employability interventions, co-designed alongside city businesses.

Our Areas of Focus

Inactivity is a major concern for the inclusive growth of the Belfast labour market. At 30.1 per cent, the city’s economic inactivity rate is higher than the regional average, and significantly higher than the UK average of 20.9 per cent. These city-wide figures mask a series of variances including gender imbalances, under-representation of disabled people and a geographical focus in some parts of the city.  Inactivity levels have been persistent over many years.  It is essential that the economic strategy focuses closely on addressing this challenge, in line with the commitment to support sustainable and inclusive growth.

To encourage more people into employment, we will work closely with employers to develop, test, and scale up inclusive employability programmes. These programmes will focus on addressing the key barriers to economic activity, including caring responsibilities, long-term mental health issues and disability.

What We Will Do

• We will engage with businesses in priority business sectors to develop a proof of concept for employability programmes in these technologies and test their success.
• We will develop at-scale propositions for these employability programmes to encourage participation in the labour market across sectors.
• We will engage closely with the community and voluntary sector to ensure that we maintain a focus on those groups with the most significant barriers. We will regularly review the impact of these interventions on specific groups in conjunction with Department for Communities and through the Belfast Labour Market Partnership.

What We Will Achieve

By 2030, we will reduce the proportion of economically inactive people of working age to 23 per cent from 30.1 per cent in 2020, in alignment with the Belfast Agenda.

8. Enabling a vibrant and productive business base

Our Ambition

Businesses in Belfast will be able to access the support they need at each stage of their growth journey, enabling a strong entrepreneurial culture in the city, increasing the number of innovation-driven enterprises, and promoting exports.

Our Areas of Focus

Belfast City Council has a significant role to play in increasing the number of start-ups founding in the city, encouraging them to scale quickly, and supporting those with growth and export potential.  Currently, Belfast lags the Northern Ireland and UK averages in business birth rates, and business survival rates are also below average. Our work will focus on recalibrating the support ecosystem, making it easier for businesses to get access to the support they need, when they need it.  We will also help businesses to access the infrastructure required to enable them to achieve their growth ambitions, help them to bring forward new products and services through investment in innovation and support them in accessing new markets outside of Northern Ireland.   

What We Will Do

• We will work towards closely aligning business support programmes between Belfast City Council and Invest NI to enable a smooth transition from one support service to another to help businesses in achieving their growth ambitions.
• We will create a revised support mechanism so that funding streams can be directed towards targeted innovation and support for start-ups with export potential. This will encourage more innovation driven enterprises particularly in the priority technologies as identified by the 10x Economy.
• We will provide targeted support at all stages of a business to improve the start-up and survival rates of new businesses and encourage a culture of entrepreneurship in the city.

What We Will Achieve

• Improve the Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate in Belfast’s adult population by 9 per cent by 2025, and increase female TEA rate by 50 per cent by 2028.
• Increase business start-ups by an additional 280 businesses above current trends by 2025.
• Increase business three-year survival rates from 53.8 per cent to 85 per cent by 2028.

9. Increasing innovation growth and diffusion

Our Ambition

Innovative businesses in Belfast, including SMEs, will have the knowledge and skills to access a diverse set of funding sources to grow their innovation activities.

Our Areas of Focus

Innovation diffusion refers to the flow of skills, capabilities, and funding for innovative activities to local businesses. The Belfast Region City Deal capital investments will establish essential innovative infrastructure in the city.  These investments have the potential to increase the uptake of research and development and boost the productivity of local businesses. A key focus of this strategy will be in ensuring that the benefits of these and all other innovation investments are realised by SMEs and “diffused” effectively across the economy.

Improving investment in R&D can be a critical enabler of innovation in Northern Ireland, especially for SMEs. There is a need to increase R&D investment: be this government; higher education investment or business investment.

What We Will Do

• We will develop an ‘innovation intelligence hub’ - for use by all innovation partners including SMEs and the public sector to navigate the complexity of innovation supports. This will align/add value to actions aligned with enabling a vibrant and productive business base, to increase the numbers of new businesses engaging in innovation activity and investing in R&D.
• We will establish a BRCD Challenge fund programme to enable access to new funding opportunities for innovative projects.
• Aligned with the ambition of the BRCD and Innovation City Belfast, in the longer term we will work to increase access to innovation funding and VC capital for SMEs through outreach activities in partnership with Innovate UK and British Business Bank and Invest NI.

What We Will Achieve

• Increase business investment per capita from £111 to £150 by 2030.
• Increase private sector R&D investment from £335 per capita in 2019 to £500 per capita in 2030.
• Increase public sector R&D investment £134 per capita in 2019 to £200 per capita in 2030.

10. Increasing Export Activity

Our Ambition

Working with key partners, we will deliver a cohesive export proposition that will support an increase in the volume and value of international sales and open the Northern Ireland market to new international opportunities.

Our areas of focus

A critical area of focus for business growth must be on increasing the number of businesses that are active in international markets. Capitalising on Belfast’s unique geographical location can encourage more businesses to export and gain international market exposure.  Belfast City Council will work closely with partners including Invest NI and InterTradeIreland on this activity.

While Belfast’s exports as a percentage of GVA are almost at par with the UK average, it would need to increase by ~10 per cent to reach the Northern Ireland average. The Belfast Agenda emphasises the importance of export to drive economic growth. This signifies the need and potential for Belfast’s exports to grow, an increase from the current level of 20 per cent of to 25 per cent of businesses exporting in Belfast would result in an increase of approximately 500 exporting businesses over the period.

What We Will Do

• We will craft an export proposition from Belfast’s unique geographical opportunity. Through this we will identify key businesses to attract with higher value-added propositions aligned to key research fields and industry clusters. Specific areas will focus on the priority technologies identified in this strategy.
• We will work with our partners to align and promote existing support for export and will develop a targeted programme of engagement with businesses to explore new markets for the first time and to expand into additional export markets.

What we will achieve

By 2030 we will Increase the value of exports to the local economy.

11. Crafting Belfast’s investment proposition

Our Ambition

Belfast will present itself confidently to the world as an exciting and innovative city for businesses, investors, and new residents to “put down roots”.

Our Areas of Focus

Belfast is in an exciting period of redefining its “story” to the world. This strategy wants to encourage the development of a new, confident narrative, supported by a targeted marketing strategy to deliver the investment, the talent, the funding and the infrastructure required for a just, sustainable and inclusive transition to net zero.

Belfast presents a unique proposition to investors worldwide. Belfast’s location gives dual market access to the UK and EU which means that Belfast can become a gateway for the sale of goods to two of the world’s largest markets. The city also has a strong story to tell around attractiveness, in terms of its accessibility and quality of life. 

Belfast has consistently shown robust performance across key FDI indicators. Through this policy the objective is to attract higher value-added investments aligned with key priority technologies to create more jobs and attract talent to the city. This will help contribute to the Belfast Agenda’s aim of securing £5 billion in investment over the next 10 years.

What We Will Do

• We will support the diffusion of a strong, coherent investment and regeneration narrative to reflect the city’s strengths and unique characteristics. This will include the benefits of key infrastructure assets such as Innovation District and opportunities through BRCD and key partners.
• We will develop a targeted marketing strategy across all key partners to drive FDI, real estate investment, and talent attraction (particularly where there are skills gaps) focused on the innovation and investment needs of priority technologies.
• We will work closely with Invest NI to ensure alignment of the Belfast and Northern Ireland export and investment propositions and will explore opportunities for collaborative activities as appropriate. 

What We Will Achieve

• By 2030 we will increase the value of foreign direct investment in the local economy.
• Have a positive net migration rate (i.e., more people coming to live in Belfast rather than leaving) to deliver on the Belfast Agenda population growth target of 66,000 new residents by 2030.

12. Maximising tourism opportunities

Our Ambition

Belfast will continue to be the gateway for tourism in Northern Ireland, with local businesses and residents successfully serving and benefitting from the tourist market.

Our Areas of Focus

Belfast is the gateway to tourism in Northern Ireland and generates 40 per cent of the region’s tourism spend. Titanic Belfast transformed the landscape when it opened in 2012 and – alongside the opening of ICC Belfast in 2016 – drove significant growth in hotel accommodation in the city. The current challenge is the need to develop a greater range of quality tourism products that will attract more visitors and encourage them to stay for longer.

The Belfast Stories project will provide another major tourist attraction in Belfast. This will be essential for extending the length of visitor journeys in Belfast, giving the sense of a more vibrant city, and increasing the opportunities for local Communities to benefit from the increase in footfall and revenues that tourists will bring. It will be an important “hub” from which new trails, experiences and attractions can radiate across the city’s neighbourhoods. We will focus our efforts on building quality experiences that attract more visitors and encourage additional spend in the local economy.

What We Will Do

• We will work to develop tourism support for local businesses to make sure new tourism infrastructure (e.g. Belfast Stories) is serviced and surrounded by businesses well-prepared to serve (and benefit from) the tourist market. This support should equip businesses with the ability to increase the revenues generated, and we have set a target of an increase in 8 per cent by 2030.
• In the longer term we will work towards improving physical infrastructure and connectivity, including transport links and green linkages into the city centre. We will work to connect open spaces within the city centre and beyond through the delivery of a blue and green infrastructure network to provide enhanced tourism trails.

What We Will Achieve

Increase the value of the tourism industry in Belfast from £417 million in 2019 to £800 million by 2030.

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Appendix 1: Glossary 

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