Consultation on Approach to 10X Technologies and Clusters

Overview

The Department for the Economy (DfE) has published a consultation on the development of the approach to 10X Technologies and Clusters focused work.

The 10X Economy Vision published in May 2021 highlighted the Department’s goal to focus on technologies and Unique Selling Points (USPs) within priority / high potential sectors. These are areas where Northern Ireland (NI) has established strengths, in research and/or industrial capability, and the potential to be globally competitive; if not already. This activity will reinforce our ongoing commitments to focusing on NI’s specialisms through the major investments of the City and Growth Deals (CGD) programme.

Technologies and USPs (including their application within and adoption across these sectors), the potential for scale impacts across the wider NI economy, and the development of clusters are all key components of the virtuous cycle of activity that we aim to build in NI. We see this focus being instrumental to drive forward progress towards a more innovative, inclusive and sustainable NI economy.

As such, the Department has established a 10X Technologies and Clusters workstream, with seven priority sectors identified within this:

• Agri-Tech
• Life and Health Sciences
• Advanced Manufacturing, Materials and Engineering
• Fintech / Financial Services
• Software
• Screen Industries
• Low Carbon (including Green Hydrogen)

In October 2022, the 10X Performance Management Framework consultation provided some detail on how the concept of technologies and priority sectors / clusters links to wider 10X objectives, and asked a number of questions around the suitability of proposed outcome metrics.

Following this, the Technologies and Clusters workstream has focused on qualifying and quantifying the specific strengths of each priority sector, identifying key technologies and USPs for focused activity and the potential policy levers the Department could utilise to grow and scale these areas. 

This consultation sets out the approach for three key areas:

• Identification and prioritisation of technologies and USPs where NI can be globally competitive, the growth of which can drive benefits at scale across the economy;
• An indication of the policy actions DfE and partners may use to drive the growth, uptake and scaling of these technologies and USPs; and
• How these technologies and USPs could be integrated into a future Sub-Regional Economic Plan.

We are seeking your views on the above areas to help inform and develop our current work.

Further detail, including the consultation document and supporting documents can be viewed on the DfE consultation page.

Why your views matter

The Department welcomes the views of all interested parties and we want to ensure that there is transparency around this work. Responses will help to develop and refine our current approach to 10X Technologies and Clusters related work, along with continued engagement with internal and external stakeholders.  

The consultation survey is quick and simple to complete. In total there are 7 questions in this consultation. It should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. 

If you are unable to complete the survey online, please contact the team by email at: dfe-10Xt&c-consultation@economy-ni.gov.uk

Public consultation workshops

The Department will be hosting 3 public workshops/events across Northern Ireland to discuss our consultation. Please feel free to attend one of these sessions to learn more about the 10X Technologies and Clusters work.

Consultation workshops:

• Tuesday 7th November, 6pm-8pm: Lisburn, South Eastern Regional College campus
• Thursday 9th November, 6pm-8pm: Armagh, Southern Regional College campus
• Tuesday 14th November, 6pm-8pm: Derry-Londonderry, North West Regional College, Strand Road campus

If you are interested in attending, please email dfe-10Xt&c-consultation@economy-ni.gov.uk as soon as possible to to indicate your preferred session and the Department for the Economy will confirm receipt.

Privacy Notice

Please see the Privacy Notice at the bottom of the page which explains how we gather and use your personal information during our consultation, and the ways in which we will safeguard that information.

Timeline:

The consultation will open on 29 September 2023 and responses are invited until 11.59pm on 24 November 2023. Following consideration of all responses, a consultation response will be published on DfE’s website.

Thank you for taking part in this consultation. 

What happens next

The consultation is now closed. Following consideration of all responses, a consultation response will be published on DfE’s website.