Economy Minister Conor Murphy has announced a £2.1 million investment by Dublin-based company Spark to create a data analytics and AI technology and consultancy center in Belfast.
Paul Cogan, Spark COO; Terri O’Donnell, Business Development Director, Invest NI; Bren Hennessy, CEO of Spark; Economy Minister Conor Murphy; and Steve Harper, executive director of international affairs, Invest NI.
The investment will create 12 high quality jobs, two of which are in place, with salaries well above the Northern Ireland private sector median, contributing £1 million a year in salaries to the local economy.
Speaking after meeting with the company, Minister Murphy said:
“This is the latest in a series of investments by Irish businesses who have recognized the benefits of establishing themselves in the north to support their growth. These benefits include the quality of our IT graduates and the competitive cost of doing business here.
“AI is one of the most important technological developments of the modern era. I believe our economy will benefit from bringing together industry professionals from the North and South to help transform business operations through the application of AI technology. Spark’s hybrid working model means the new jobs are available to IT professionals across the North, ensuring equality of opportunity, which is one of my aims as Minister for Economy.
Spark is an award-winning data and AI platform company founded in 2020 and now employs 50 people across its offices in Dublin and Malaga, Spain. The company specializes in combining ML strategy, design and engineering to help its clients develop single source of truth capabilities through its platform and succeed as future-proof digital businesses .
Commenting on the investment, Bern Hennessey, CEO of Spark, said: “We are excited to create an operation in Belfast where we know we can recruit top-notch IT talent to add to our team of world-class experts. Northern Ireland is recognized as an area of excellence in the field of data analytics and these skills will help us to grow and achieve our target of achieving 30% of turnover from the UK market over the course of of the next few years.
“We are an employee-driven company and can offer our staff a dynamic work environment where job satisfaction, diversity and inclusion are core principles. »
Invest Northern Ireland’s teams in Dublin and Belfast helped secure the investment and are working with Spark to help it find suitable housing and additional government support for the ICT sector. This will include establishing links with the new cutting-edge artificial intelligence collaboration center based at Ulster University, in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast.
Steve Harper, executive director of international affairs at Invest NI, said:
“Spark is an ambitious company that has demonstrated in just a few years its ability to win contracts with large global companies. With the data and AI consulting market expected to reach $45.6 billion by 2032, the company has set ambitious growth targets. The new center in Northern Ireland will play an important role in helping it achieve its objectives.
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