The Belfast Regional City Deal (BRCD) will provide approximately £1bn of investment for the Belfast region over 15 years.
One of the innovation projects within the BRCD is iREACH Health, a £64m world-class integrated clinical research innovation centre led by Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and Health and Social Care Research and Development Division.
iREACH Health will be centred in two state-of-the-art buildings beside Belfast City Hospital, which will open in 2027 and will bring together industry, academia and Health and Social Care to transform the healthcare research ecosystem.
Together, we will accelerate the discovery, development and early phase testing of new treatments, paving the way for rapid medical advancements. By connecting start-ups and pharmaceutical companies to an optimised ecosystem, iREACH Health creates a connected innovation landscape. iREACH Health will span basic research (discovery and pre-clinical), translation to humans (proof of concept), and translation to patients (clinical trials).
Through collaboration with local, regional, and global partners, we aim to foster an ecosystem that accelerates medical breakthroughs, helps grow the life and health sciences sector, and places people at the heart of research, providing opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds across Northern Ireland to take part in research.
We will focus on delivering research that addresses the priority healthcare challenges. Matching these priorities with academic strength and access to a clinical trial infrastructure to make Northern Ireland a region of choice to deliver trials.
For more information go to iREACH Health.