Murphy: Dublin based Spark to set up AI and data analytics centre in the North

Pictured (L-R) are Paul Cogan, COO, Spark; Terri O’Donnell, Business Development Director, Invest Northern Ireland; Bren Hennessy, CEO, Spark; Conor Murphy, Minister for the Economy; Steve Harper, Executive Director of International Business and Skills, Invest Northern Ireland

Economy Minister Conor Murphy has announced a £2.1 million investment by Dublin-based Data Platform Company, Spark, to establish a Data Analytics and AI Technology and Consulting Centre in Belfast.

The investment will create 12 high-quality jobs, two of which are in place, with salaries substantially above the Northern Ireland private sector median, which will contribute over £1 million a year in wages to the local economy.

Speaking after meeting with the company, Minister Murphy said: “This is the latest in a number of investments by Irish companies that have recognised the benefits of establishing operations in the north to support their growth. Those benefits include the quality of our IT graduates and the competitive cost of doing business here.

“AI is one of the most important technological developments of the modern era.  I believe that our economy will benefit from bringing together industry professionals from north and south to help transform business operations through the application of AI technology. Spark’s hybrid working model means that the new jobs are available to IT professionals across the north ensuring equality of opportunity which is one of my goals as Economy Minister.”

Spark is an award-winning data and AI platform company that was set up in 2020 and now employs 50 staff across its offices in Dublin and Malaga, Spain. The company specialises in blending strategy, design and ML engineering to help its customers develop single source of truth capabilities via it’s platform and succeed as future-proofed digital businesses.

Commenting on the investment, Spark CEO Bern Hennessey said: “We are excited to be setting up an operation in Belfast where we know we can recruit top-class IT talent to add to our world-class team of experts. Northern Ireland is recognised as an area of excellence in the area of data analytics and those skills will help us to grow and to reach our target of achieving 30% of revenue from the UK market over the next few years. 

“We are an employee-first business and can offer staff a dynamic working environment where workplace satisfaction, diversity and inclusivity are core principles.”

Invest Northern Ireland’s teams in Dublin and Belfast have helped to secure the investment and are working with Spark to help it find suitable accommodation and tap into further government support for the ICT sector. This will include establishing links with the new state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre based at Ulster University in partnership with Queen's University Belfast.

Steve Harper, Executive Director of International Business, Invest NI, said: “Spark is an ambitious company that in just a few years has demonstrated the ability to win business with significant global companies. With the Data & AI consulting market forecast to grow to $45.6 billion by 2032, it has set itself ambitious growth targets. The new centre in Northern Ireland will play an important role in helping it achieve its goals.”