Northern Ireland has a thriving life and health sciences sector and an ecosystem that benefits from a strong collaborative approach between industry, academia and clinicians.

Areas of Expertise

The region offers expertise across a broad range of life and health sciences including Precision Medicine with focused research centres and companies, and Medical Technology with dedicated research centres. Northern Ireland also has specialisms within the areas of oncology, cardiology, ophthalmology, respiratory and diabetes.

Northern Ireland has a strong reputation within the sector, with expertise across a range of specialisms, including: Precision Medicine, Diagnostics, MedTech, eHealth, Clinical Trials, Big Data, Health & Wellbeing, Healthcare, and Research Centres.

Innovation and Experience

Northern Ireland's life and health sciences sector boasts an established reputation for innovation in the health technology sector and a strong scientific research base. The two main universities, Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University rank among the top 10 in the UK for bioscience research, with more than 1,000 researchers in the region's Centres of Excellence. 

Today, Northern Ireland researchers are at the forefront of convergent technology in the areas of health data analytics, machine learning and diagnostics. 

International investors successfully operating in Northern Ireland include: Almac Group, CV6 Therapeutics, Randox Laboratories, Terumo BCT Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals Group.

Invest Northern Ireland

As the regional business development agency for Northern Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland's role is to grow the local economy. We do this by helping new and existing businesses to compete internationally, and by attracting new investment to Northern Ireland.