New Health Innovation and Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI)

A collaboration made up of Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and key Northern Ireland partners, have launched the ‘Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland’ (HIRANI).

The alliance was announced on Wednesday 5 June at a breakfast event hosted by Northern Irish Connections in Philadelphia at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) International Convention, one of the largest international Health and Life Sciences conferences.

The HIRANI is an alliance between both universities, health organisations and other industry bodies across Northern Ireland. It brings together academia, healthcare and business to promote collaboration, investment and growth, and is supported by Invest NI, Public Health Agency, HSC R&D Office, the Department of Health (DoH) and Department for the Economy (DfE).

The new alliance will help drive and support ambitious growth in the Life and Health Sciences Sector in Northern Ireland.

HIRANI will act as ‘one voice’ to enable the sector to collectively promote and strategically position itself nationally and internationally. It will do this by collaborating and connecting across business; capitalising on major opportunities; enabling innovation; tackling barriers to growth, and advocating for the health and wealth of the region and the citizens of Northern Ireland.

The ambition is that this increase in activity will result in a surge of economic activity across the sector. It is expected that this will significantly impact on the region’s prosperity and lead to a growth in the exposure of the Northern Irish population to cutting edge medical innovation which will have a direct impact on health and well-being.