Belfast based company Ocula Technologies has invested £11m towards research and development (R&D) in AI, according to reports from the BBC.
The company, known for its support in ecommerce, told reporters that it was planning to increase its workforce from 10 to 50 within its Software Development Centre by 2026.
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Alongside this investment, Ocula Technologies has also chosen to locate its new headquarters in Northern Ireland. Ocula’s CEO and co-founder Thomas McKenna stressed the quality of Northern Ireland’s workforce.
“With its rich talent pool, we certainly made the right decision in choosing Northern Ireland to help us build this capability,” McKenna stated.
Ocula Technologies has already helped clients such as Hornby Hobbies and Kansas City Chiefs to help boost search engine optimisation (SEO) and create online sales solutions.
In its 2022 report into Ireland’s macroeconomic outlook, research analyst company GlobalData stated that a major strength of Ireland’s tech sector was its diverse research section.
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By GlobalDataThe Irish government has already funded several grants to help research in tech, healthcare and wider society throughout 2022.
Despite this, GlobalData note that overall R&D expenditure in Ireland is lower than other EU countries.
In 2020, the percentage of R&D expenditure as a total of Ireland’s GDP stood at around 1.3%, compared to 2.2% in France. This was despite an initial 2020 target of reaching 3% R&D gross expenditure.
Anne Beggs, Director of Trade and Investment at Invest NI, was confident that Ocula Technologies investment would boost Northern Ireland’s future economic growth.
“The benefits of investing in R&D are rich, and Ocula is a testament to how R&D can enable the development of game-changing products which can drive competitiveness in the global marketplace,” Beggs stated.
Earlier this year, OpenAI also set its sights upon Ireland after choosing Dublin as the new location of an office.
