Invest NI’s new Competence Centre Programme is designed specifically to provide collaborating businesses with the opportunity to establish and contract higher-risk, longer-term academic research programmes that will focus on emerging market opportunities. 

The first call for Expressions of Interest to the Competence Centre Programme closed in April 2009 with receipt of 16 applications from a broad range of scientific disciplines including life and health sciences, environment and energy, food and agri-food and polymers and composite materials . 

 

Six have been selected to proceed to full proposal stage.