Belfast’s City Innovation Office and colleagues from Belfast City Council’s Economic Development Team are working with Belfast company Xpand who are making it easier for local businesses to find and receive support and finance to help them grow.

Signing up to the new XpandAccess® app provides each business with a view of the latest funding and business support services available across Northern Ireland and the UK. There are over 1,300 finance and support options available including funding, advice, events and webinars.

The app tailors information to the specific needs of each business depending on their industry, type and location. For example, the app can help a business identify a suitable UK funding source to support a project proposal and relevant upcoming events.

Businesses can also receive analysis and reports on their competitors and target market to help identify opportunities to grow their business.

The app also enables organisations providing funding and support to better understand the unique needs of businesses and different industries. We are working with Xpand to gather insights from participating businesses to help inform the design of new support programmes for the city’s growing FinTech sector.

To register on the XpandAccess® app, visit https://access.xpandapp.com/sign-up/belfastfintech

Belfast City Council provides a range of support and information for businesses in Belfast. To find out more, visit www.belfastcity.gov.uk/businessinfo

Bearded man wearing virtual reality headset

Bringing immersive tech to the mainstream

Belfast has become a magnet for talent in music, theatre, film and television. In a statement of our ambition the city has established a national Immersive Lab that seeks to bring Virtual and Augmented Reality Tech into the home, the office and on to the factory floor.

Winners of Open Data NI Fund competition

Belfast companies win funding for innovative open data projects

Belfast City Council is working with locals companies Xpand and AllState NI on two innovative data projects.

Belfast Skyline

Using machine learning to support business rates collection

We explored how data analytics and machine learning can maximise the accurate collection of business rates, as well as maintain an up-to-date register of businesses in the city.