Slough, United Kingdom (PressExposure) January 28, 2010 -- The cash boost for Seagate Technology will bring 85 new research and development posts to the Springtown plant in the city and a further 10 research positions based at Queen's University in Belfast.
A £47.3 million injection from the company will be enhanced with a £12.7 million grant from Invest Northern Ireland.
The investment announcement comes days after enterprise minister Arlene Foster outlined a series of measures aimed at improving the way government supports businesses in Northern Ireland. The strategy, which was prompted by an independent review of economic policy, aimed to put more focus on research and development work.
Ms Foster welcomed the Seagate development on a visit to the firm.
"Encouraging innovation and boosting business research and development are hugely important to our economic future and will be key drivers in helping us deliver the productivity goal contained in the Programme for Government," she said.
"Securing highly credible investors and developing value added supply chain opportunities through collaborative research was one of the key recommendations I brought to the Assembly in taking forward the findings of the Independent Review of Economic Policy.
"The investments being announced are excellent examples of that policy in practice, in particular the close collaboration which is envisaged between the company and Queen's University, which will see a new research facility being established at the Department of Physics." The minister said the decision by Seagate was a vote of confidence for the area.
"This was a mobile investment which could easily have gone elsewhere within the Seagate corporation, but for the strong case made by local management and the support offered by Invest NI," she said.
Seagate chairman and president Steve Luczo and executive vice president and chief technology officer Bob Whitmore travelled to Northern Ireland from the US to mark the investment.