Innovation City Belfast (ICB) has appointed Dr Adrian Johnston MBE as the city’s new Innovation Commissioner. He will officially take up the role in January 2025.
Currently Director of Strategic Business Development at Catalyst, and a former director at Digital Catapult NI, Adrian brings over 25 years of industry and innovation experience to the role.
ICB is a partnership formed in 2021 by the leaders of seven of the city’s key institutions, working together to drive innovation and attract investment: Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour, Belfast Metropolitan College, Catalyst, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University, with Invest Northern Ireland as an advisory partner.
As Commissioner, Adrian will work with ICB to build upon Belfast’s existing strengths and seek to position the city as a global home for innovation.
John Walsh, Chair of ICB and Chief Executive of Belfast City Council said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Adrian as our new Innovation Commissioner for Belfast. He’s highly regarded and has a strong track record in delivering strategies for innovation and growth. He’s also well-known for his career-long commitment to inclusion, something which is of increasing importance as our city and economy responds to the impact of rapid technological change.
“The ICB partners are looking forward to working alongside Adrian to grow our city’s innovation ambitions. It’s a hugely exciting time to be in this space with many opportunities emerging nationally and internationally. Our Commissioner will advocate for Belfast and work to ensure that we can maximise the benefits of these opportunities for our communities and for business.”
Adrian Johnston, incoming Belfast Innovation Commissioner said: “I’m delighted to be appointed to a role which is key to stimulating inclusive innovation and economic growth for the region. Belfast is already home to a vibrant community of entrepreneurs, innovators, start-ups, and enterprises, and benefits from the research excellence of our two universities. We aim to build on this success and our already collaborative innovation ecosystem to grow our economy in a sustainable and inclusive way.
“ICB is particularly committed to working with Belfast Region City Deal partners to maximise the economic and societal impact of their planned investment in five new innovation centres of excellence, and a £120 million digital programme.”
One of the Innovation Commissioner’s first roles will be to lead an ICB delegation to this year’s Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona in November.
The Congress brings together over 800 cities, tech industry leads and innovators from across the globe to attract investment, to tackle societal challenges and to grow urban economies.
In his role at Catalyst, Adrian cultivated regional and international innovation partnerships across industry, academia, and government. He led Catalyst's Open Innovation team, concentrating on the creation of growth clusters in Health and Life Sciences, NetZero, and RegTech.
Previously at Digital Catapult NI, Adrian played a key role in accelerating the adoption of AI and other emerging digital technologies across various industry sectors.
Adrian has held leadership roles stimulating economic and social advance across NI and is currently Chair of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, working with communities to address critical societal challenges including homelessness, climate, poverty, health inequalities, and digital exclusion.
For more information, go to Innovation City Belfast (link opens in new window) visit or follow on X @ICBelfast (link opens in new window) and LinkedIn.