Smart Nano NI

What Smart Nano NI does

Smart Nano NI is a Northern Ireland research consortium formed in 2020 to develop advanced prototyping and smart manufacturing methods in nanotechnology and photonics. The consortium comprises nine partner organisations led by Seagate Technology, with academic leadership from Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, skills delivery via North West Regional College, programme management through Digital Catapult Northern Ireland, and specialised industry partners Analytics Engines, Causeway Sensors, Cirdan Imaging, and Yelo. It does not operate as a commercial vendor; instead, it functions as a collaborative research and innovation programme that makes specialised facilities, skills training, and accelerator cohorts available to Northern Ireland SMEs at no cost.

Name

Smart Nano NI

Legal name

Smart Nano NI Consortium

Website

https://smartnanoni.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Smart Nano NI is a Northern Ireland research consortium led by Seagate with nine partners, developing nanotechnology- and photonics-enabled smart manufacturing methods for SMEs along the Derry~Londonderry to Belfast corridor under a £42.4M UKRI Strength in Places Fund award.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nanotechnology and Photonics Research Consortium

NAICS

Research and Development in Nanotechnology (541713)

SIC

Special Industry Machinery, Nec (3559)

akta.pro primary industry

Precision Micro-3D Printing Services (micro-SLA, micro-metal, microfluidics) (IMAAADAF)

Keywords

• Nanotechnology research
• Photonics development
• Smart manufacturing
• Advanced prototyping
• Technology access programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Belfast

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. UKRI Strength in Places Fund: Primary funding from UK Research and Innovation's Strength in Places Fund awarded to develop advanced prototyping and smart manufacturing methods. Direct funding of £42.4 million with total project value including leveraged funding of £63.9 million.
2. Collaborative R&D Programs: Funding for consortium-led research and development activities focused on medical devices, communication, and data storage technologies through collaborative industry-academia partnerships.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Smart Nano NI is a regionally focused research and innovation consortium that develops advanced prototyping and smart manufacturing methods using nanotechnology and photonics. It delivers technology access programmes, accelerator initiatives, and open-access facilities (nano-fabrication labs and Northern Ireland's largest 5G/NB-IoT testbed) to Northern Ireland SMEs, startups, researchers, and industry partners in exchange for grant funding rather than direct commercial revenue.

Product overview

Smart Nano NI is a research consortium rather than a product company. Its consortium members develop commercial products including Causeway Sensors' TITAN real-time biosensor for biomanufacturing, and Cirdan's imaging portfolio (ULTRA LIS laboratory information system, PathLite+ macro-imaging system, CoreLite/Solas x-ray systems, and Tutor education platform). The consortium also delivers technology access programmes, accelerator initiatives, and 5G testbed facilities as services to support innovation in Northern Ireland's smart manufacturing ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Smart Nano NI Technology Access Programme A 12-week accelerator programme providing startups and SMEs access to cutting-edge photonics and future network technologies (5G, NB-IoT) to accelerate product development and address industry challenges in Northern Ireland.
• Smart Nano NI Accelerator - Manufacturing Innovation Challenge A 16-week accelerator programme supporting tech companies to address manufacturing challenges, culminating in competition for a £75,000 Techstart Ventures Proof of Concept grant to commercialize innovations developed during the programme.
• FutureScope Photonics NI A nine-week practical workshop series showcasing photonic technologies within industry, focused on quality control, equipment monitoring, and light-based processes for manufacturing, construction, medical devices, and agritech sectors.
• 5G Testbed Facilities Open-access 5G and NB-IoT network testbeds in both manufacturing and education settings, enabling businesses to test and explore network technologies in live industrial environments.
• Smart Nano NI Lab Access Direct open-access provision of specialized lab facilities including nano-fabrication equipment, precision 3D printing, optical and electrical testing tools, and characterization instruments for researchers, SMEs, and partner organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100 new prototypes targeted for delivery to NI-based companies
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• CPI (Centre for Process Innovation)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 July 2024CPI joined a consortium led by Causeway Sensors for an Innovate UK award project to demonstrate TITAN biosensor capabilities in downstream biomanufacturing operations. CPI provides their end-to-end continuous biomanufacturing system as a testbed for integrating Causeway Sensors' TITAN device.
• Industrial Systems and Control (ISC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 July 2024ISC joined a consortium led by Causeway Sensors for an Innovate UK award project to demonstrate TITAN biosensor capabilities. ISC provides expertise in automation and process control to integrate with the TITAN device and CPI's biomanufacturing system.
• Seagate TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Seagate Technology is the lead consortium partner and world leader in data storage solutions. Their Northern Ireland facility (Springtown) is recognized as one of the foremost 200mm wafer fabrication plants globally with over 1,600 employees. Seagate leads the development of advanced materials for data storage including Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology and provides manufacturing facilities for 5G testbed deployment.
• Analytics EnginescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Analytics Engines provides AI and data analytics expertise to the consortium. They possess market-leading capability across AI&ML, computer vision technology, data science, graph and text analytics, and data visualizations. Trusted by national institutions including RTE and The National Gallery, they bring data analytics and machine learning capabilities to smart manufacturing applications.
• Causeway SensorscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Causeway Sensors is a spin-out from Queen's University Belfast that developed a patented nano-sensor platform for real-time quantification in biomanufacturing. They focus on helping the drug discovery market capture better data with their TITAN biosensor product. The company is addressing challenges in unoptimized cell-line productivity and failed batches in biotherapeutic manufacturing.
• CirdancoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Cirdan is a leading provider of pathology informatics and imaging solutions headquartered in Lisburn, Northern Ireland with offices in Canada and Australia. Their products include ULTRA LIS, CoreLite and Solas x-ray systems for breast cancer diagnosis, PathLite+ macro imaging system, and Tutor digital pathology education platform. They are the largest digital pathology company in the UK.
• Digital Catapult Northern IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Digital Catapult Northern Ireland connects industry and academia to build innovative partnerships, helping organizations work smarter through advanced digital technologies. They deliver accelerator programs, manage the 5G testbed facilities, and provide access to photonics expertise and networks. They are part of the UK Catapult Network established by Innovate UK.
• North West Regional CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020North West Regional College (NWRC) has five campuses in Derry-Londonderry, Limavady and Strabane and supports over 10,000 students. Their Business Support Centre provides innovation and skills training programmes and has won the TES 2020 award for employer engagement. They house the Industry 4.0 Centre at Springtown Campus for automation, robotics, and smart manufacturing training.
• Queen's University BelfastcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Queen's University Belfast is a Russell Group research-intensive university with globally renowned work in photonics and advanced data storage. They lead the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage (PIADS). Professor Robert Bowman heads the School of Mathematics and Physics and directs the advanced materials hub partnership with Seagate.
• Ulster UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Ulster University's Intelligent Systems Research Centre (ISRC) provides expertise in Artificial Intelligence, computational intelligence, and smart manufacturing. The university is in the top 25% of UK universities for world-leading research. They contribute AI and machine learning capabilities to support semiconductor manufacturing optimization and manufacturing automation.
• YelocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 November 2020Yelo, founded in 1983, specializes in the design and manufacture of burn-in and life test equipment for optoelectronic devices. With a team of 45, they are vertically integrated with full design and manufacturing capabilities. They won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2019 for outstanding export performance and deliver products to manufacturers in USA, Asia, and Europe.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Imec: Belgium-based world-leading nanoelectronics and digital technology R&D center with semiconductor process technology, photonics, and nano-manufacturing capabilities. Significantly larger and more established than Smart Nano NI but operates on a comparable industry-academia consortium model focused on advanced semiconductor and photonic research.
• Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS): German applied research organization specializing in photonic microsystems, nano-fabrication, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Comparable in mission (applied R&D in photonics and nano manufacturing) but operates at much larger scale as part of the Fraunhofer network with significantly broader capability portfolio.
• Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC): UK Catapult Network member focused on advanced manufacturing, providing R&D and technology access for SMEs and large manufacturers. Comparable in offering shared facilities, accelerator programmes, and SME engagement but with broader manufacturing focus rather than photonics/nano specialization.
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: Finland's state-owned applied research organization with deep capabilities in photonics, microelectronics, and quantum technologies. Comparable as a publicly-funded applied research organization bridging academia and industry, though at significantly larger scale and broader scope.

Direct peers

• Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult: UK Catapult Network member focused on compound semiconductor applications, operating from Newport, Wales. Comparable in being a publicly-funded deep tech innovation consortium combining industry and academia to commercialize semiconductor-related technologies for downstream applications.
• Digital Catapult: UK-wide deep tech innovation accelerator that operates technology access programmes, 5G testbeds, and accelerator cohorts across multiple verticals. Smart Nano NI explicitly partners with Digital Catapult NI to deliver its programmes, and both follow the same consortium-led model combining industry, academia, and SMEs.
• Centre for Process Innovation (CPI): UK Catapult Network member providing capability in process innovation, including biomanufacturing and nanotechnology scale-up. CPI is a direct partner on the Causeway Sensors TITAN biomanufacturing integration project and represents the closest UK comparison for Smart Nano NI's model of translating deep-tech research into commercial applications.

Regional players

• CSconnected: Wales-based semiconductor cluster bringing together industry and academia in compound semiconductors, comparable in its consortium-driven regional deep-tech cluster model. Operates in a different UK region (Wales) but pursues a similar publicly-funded cluster-building approach with adjacent technology focus.

Emerging players

• Causeway Sensors: QUB spin-out and Smart Nano NI consortium member developing the TITAN nanosensor platform for real-time biomanufacturing monitoring. Directly comparable as a deep-tech spinout that emerged from the same photonics/nano research ecosystem that Smart Nano NI consolidates.
• Cirdan Imaging: Northern Ireland-based digital pathology and imaging company, a Smart Nano NI consortium member. Comparable as a regional deep-tech medical imaging company that has scaled from academic research (QUB) to commercial products (PathLite+, ULTRA LIS), demonstrating the consortium's potential commercialization pathway.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SmartnanoNI
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smartnano-ni

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Smart Nano NI