The University of Ulster will announce a £1.7 million sterling (€2.16 million) investment in a new international business centre at its Magee Campus.

Details of the centre, which will be part of the university's pioneering science research park being developed across the North, are expected to be announced next month.

The university is establishing the centre to attract international businesses to set up new operations in the North, particularly in the north-west, and to encourage Northern Ireland firms to realise their export potential.

According to Prof Dolores O'Reilly, head of the University of Ulster's School of International Business, the centre will help to promote an enterprise culture.

The centre, the first of its type in Ireland, will provide normal business-support services and a range of incentives such as hot-desking to short-term space to potential tenants.

As it develops there are plans for international business awareness programmes, including language and cultural programmes for local and inward investors.

According to the University of Ulster, firms have already set up in the centre before its official opening.

Prof O'Reilly said an important objective of the centre was to create an environment where new inward investors could set up small operations to assess the potential of the North as an investment location without having to commit substantial cash investment upfront. She said the new facility would also play an important role in promoting local businesses.