Hi-tech jobs in Northern Ireland are less likely to be threatened by the current global slowdown because they are more closely linked to research and development programmes than in other countries, the North's information age chief has said.
Prof Fabian Monds, the chairman of the Industrial Research and Technology Unit and the Information Age initiative, which is designed to encourage business to be more IT/internet aware, said evidence showed Northern Ireland was better "insulated" against the effects of a hi-tech slowdown.
"All the jobs in the new age economies in Northern Ireland are really research and development jobs. More than 80 per cent of the jobs created in Northern Ireland last year were identified by the Industrial and Development Board (IDB) as coming from new technologies," Prof Monds said.
The total number of jobs promoted by the IDB in the North last year was more than 7,000.
Prof Monds believes jobs closely linked to a company's R and D programmes are more sustainable than manufacturing positions. He told delegates attending a two-day international innovation conference in Belfast yesterday that the Northern Ireland economy is moving from a production-orientated economy to become knowledge led.
The North's traditional industries including textiles and shipbuilding have sustained heavy job losses in the last 12 months. Yesterday more than 140 workers at the former Courtauld's textile company in Craigavon, Co Armagh, were told their jobs were under threat.
