Recent announcements have strengthened Northern Ireland's attempts to reposition itself as a location for high-tech investment, and have lifted some of the gloom triggered by redundancies in the depressed clothing and textiles sector.
In the first development, Queen's University Belfast has been chosen as the centre for a new world-class research and development facility by two global leaders in leading-edge communication systems.
Telecoms company Nortel Networks and computer software firm Xilinx, which has a major research and development facility in Dublin, will invest in a new three year communications technology project at Queen's.
According to IDB acting chief executive Mr Leslie Ross, this will enhance Northern Ireland's reputation as an R&D centre for international corporations. The project involves creating a programmable systems laboratory.
Canadian-owned Nortel employs around 2,400 people at one of seven "global systems houses" in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. It competes for skilled graduates in electronics and computing and designs and manufactures the key components that make the Internet work for telecoms companies, including BT.
Xilinx, based in San Jose, California, is a leading supplier of complete programmable "logic solutions", including advanced integrated circuits and software design tools. Nortel's vice-president for local Internet product development, Mr Paul McMenamin, said: "By working co-operatively in our respective contributions to this programme we aim to usher in a new era in the high-performance Internet and bring our customers to profit faster."
In a separate development, it was announced that almost 200 jobs will follow a £2.6 million investment by the leading IT company ICS Computing. ICS expects its expansion plant over the next three years to create 144 jobs at a new facility in Newtownards, Co Down, and a further 53 at its Belfast offices.
The investment, supported by a £1 million IDB grant, is the firm's attempt to develop business opportunities in Britain for its payroll services.
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