Dr Norman Apsley may have to negotiate through some of the world's top fintech companies in Belfast today to get to his office. And he could not be happier about it.
Up to 5,000 people are expected to attend two big events that are taking place in Titanic Quarter in Belfast this week just up the road from where Apsley's office is located in the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP).
Belfast for the first time is hosting MoneyConf which continues today and EnterConf later this week.
They are organised by the same team behind the Web Summit in Dublin who are hoping to recreate the same magic in Belfast – on a slightly smaller scale.
The prospect of thousands of innovative, tech enthusiasts converging in Belfast for a week is the sort of thing that 15 years ago Apsley could only dream about.
He came back to Northern Ireland in 2000 to take up the newly created post of chief executive of NISP and has helped shape the park into a thriving eco-system for start-ups, entrepreneurs and investors.
Last year this eco-system was extended to Derry when the North West Regional Science Park opened on the site of a former army barracks. Between them the science parks are now home to over 140 companies and 2,400 employees but for Apsley his job is far from done.
Apsley says the mix of tenants at NISP, from the American banking group Citi – which currently leases all of its 40,000 sq ft facility White Star House to the start-up who has just 400 sq ft, illustrates why it plays such an important role in the local economy.
“Our latest figures show us that over a recent 12 month period our start-ups raised more than £30 million – what we have in Northern Ireland is as good as anything in California and investors know that in many cases we are ‘valley ready’ – they see the opportunities that are here now,” Apsley says.
But he is impatient that Northern Ireland in general produces results faster.
He believes there is an opportunity for NISP to collaborate with the private sector in the North when it comes to creating more space for both local entrepreneurs and international investors.
NISP has 24 acres at its disposal and Apsley harbours ambitions to one day help create a one million square foot science park in Northern Ireland.
“We don’t have to limit ourselves in Northern Ireland – we can create a transformative knowledge economy,” he says.
If Apsley is right the thousands of fintech enthusiasts enjoying the sunshine in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter today may just be a glimpse of what the future could hold.
