Queen's University has targeted the United States in a bid to win lucrative hi-tech research and development contracts.
Officials from the university's Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology [ECIT] teamed up with Invest NI for a week-long series of meetings in Washington and Boston with US funding bodies and technology corporations.
The ECIT delegation held talks with a number of high profile technology corporations to explore the potential for future research partnerships.
They included Texas Instruments; Freescale semiconductor - a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded electronic components; and General Dynamics, a leading supplier of information systems and technologies.
ECIT is a €60 million world class research centre set up in Belfast by Queen's last May to exploit Northern Ireland's expertise in key areas of electronics, communications and information technology.
Operations director Dr Godfrey Gaston said he believed the US visit was extremely valuable not only for establishing new business leads, but also as a means of validating the organisation's strategic direction and its research capabilities.
"The feedback we received from the high ranking officials we met was extremely positive. Without exception, they were excited by work we are undertaking, particularly in the areas of IT security, Internet traffic management and high technology antennas," he said.