Northern Ireland at digital tipping point, but 'lack of political leadership stalls momentum'

It is something that is happening right around the globe.

And the consensus is that Northern Ireland has made great strides as it attempts to carve out a new and transformative digital identity.

According to Tech Nation, 128 startups have been formed in Belfast since 2016. Over 1200 companies, 100 of them global leaders, now operate here. 23% of Northern Ireland jobs advertised last year were digital tech roles.

The Digital Economy Council says Northern Ireland's tech sector now accounts for more than one in seven jobs. While Invest NI says that amounts to more than 28,000 roles.

Not bad figures for a relatively small nation. But the momentum brought about by a successful last couple of years has stalled, according to one local entrepreneur.

Ian Browne is the Managing Director of the National Digital Research Centre. He says a lack of investment and political leadership needs addressed.

He says: "We had a very, very good few years - up to 2020 and 2021 - just like the rest of the world. But the issue we have is that in other places in the world, they are continuing to invest. But yet here we have come to a standstill. Momentum has stalled."

Northern Ireland does have a digital strategy. It was published before the collapse of the Stormont Executive. Something Ian says is still hurting our digital plans for the future.

"From once being a really good, interesting and well supported place to start a company," says Ian.

"Northern Ireland has headwinds for the first time. And actually, founders are choosing to go elsewhere to start their companies."

"I think we've caused ourselves some problems, but we can catch up? We can do that and we're pretty good at that sort of stuff. We've had to do it before and we can do it again. But I think we need to make decisions and make them quickly."

But it's not all doom and gloom. In fact, the future is bright and exciting for many Northern Ireland digital ventures.

Take, for example, Studio Ulster. Developed by Ulster University in partnership with Belfast Harbour and supported by Northern Ireland Screen, Studio Ulster is a unique, large scale virtual production studio complex, with world class sound stages able to host large scale productions and small indie projects.

Professor Declan Keeney from Ulster University knows it's a competitive market.

He says: "We need to make sure that we put the effort in with the talent, the development, and that's what we do. We're unashamedly facing the industry and working with the industry to make sure that our graduates are ready to go and that they can develop new and exciting projects here in Northern Ireland."

And from the glamour of movies, tv productions and high class gaming projects, to healthcare and delivering for the future.

Dr Phil McElnay, who founded local startup Medall, told me: "We need to train 18 million more health care professionals by 2030. The Lancet, one of the most trusted medical journals in the world, says we don't have enough resources to train the doctors we already have."

And so Phil has created a digital medical school that now operated around the globe.

"When we looked at how we were training health care professionals, it was highly inefficient. It was taking two, maybe three hours to deliver one hour worth of health care training. I thought, we're never going to train many more health care professionals like this. Something radically different needed to be done."

Change, radical or not, comes in all shapes and sizes. It's widely accepted that Northern Ireland has a young, highly skilled, experienced and adaptable workforce.

Retaining the huge amount of talent here will be key to unlocking our digital potential and crucial if a digital tech economy is to succeed here.

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