Mr Kwarteng, the BEIS Minister, met with the Vice-Chancellor to discuss the UK Government’s innovation strategy, and the University’s role in developing cutting-edge skills here in Northern Ireland.

The Minister was given a tour of photonics and nanotechnology labs in the School of Maths and Physics, and introduced to the work of the team behind Smart Nano NI, a consortium of research and industry partners which was recently awarded £60m to develop new technology for medical devices, communication and data storage.

The Minister said Smart Nano NI showed “incredible innovation” and stated: “I think there’s a fantastic sense of progress…I think the future for people here at Queen’s University, and also Belfast and Northern Ireland is very bright”.

On the same day, the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, visited the Centre for Secure Information Technology (CSIT) to discuss continued investment in cyber security research and innovation, skills and the levelling up agenda.

Ms Trevelyan was given a demonstration of some of the capabilities of the Cyber Range, a facility equipping researchers to working through cyber attack and defence strategies.

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Visit this site for more on Smart Nano NI

Watch this short video of the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP at Queen’s: