Dermot Tierney likes a challenge. That's why he's aiming to solve one of the world’s challenges – resistance to drugs. And when Dermot, as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of biotech startup AMPLY Discovery, was deciding where to base his company, the answer was obvious: it had to be Belfast.

“Back when I graduated in 2001, you didn’t have many options as a skilled graduate, so I moved to London,” Dermot explains. “To find a meaningful job, you had to leave Northern Ireland and go elsewhere. That’s the big difference these days. Now, graduates leaving university in Northern Ireland have options right here. You have the  opportunity to acquire capital and build a business. That certainly wasn’t the case 25 years ago.”

Dermot Tierney, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, AMPLY Discovery.

Having been back in Northern Ireland for the past eight years, Dermot is just one example of how  entrepreneurs and graduates are seizing the opportunities created by more than 25 years of progress heralded by the peace process. And Queen’s is at the heart of this rebirth, demonstrated by the convening power of events such as the Agreement 25 Conference held in April 2023. No wonder, then, that when Special Envoy Joe Kennedy III led a trade mission last year, he based himself at Queen’s.

Professor MN Ravishankar is Dean and Head of Queen’s Business School: “Universities exist for the greater good,” he says. “We can contribute meaningfully to issues of global importance, facilitate conversations between people in different parts of the world, and we don’t have any ulterior motives.

“It’s such an exciting time, because not only are we out there in the world, we’re also bringing the world to Northern Ireland – showcasing the amazing things that have happened post-1998.”

In fact, Queen’s Business School has always prided itself on creating closer links between academia and industry, and is a cornerstone of Northern Ireland’s vibrant business environment. Current initiatives include the Business Clinic, which connects businesses with student consultancy teams to carry out research, and the AMBA-accredited Queen’s MBA, with generous high-value scholarships available for NI candidates.

But over the past 15 years, it’s also become an international hub for Northern Ireland. “People continue to discover what a great place Belfast is to study,” says Professor Ravishankar. “That’s linked to the fact that there is peace and, of course, that it’s a fantastic location with great, affordable facilities.” Along with allowing all students to develop vital intercultural skills, the University’s more prominent place on the world stage tremendous boost to the local economy.

Research focused on the productivity of Northern Ireland demonstrates the potential benefits for international students to be absorbed into the country’s business, and for local employers to have access to a talented pool of qualified employees, explains Professor Ravishankar. Those employees allow businesses to flourish, hire and train more people, to innovate, and to attract more businesses like them.

“When students who have a diverse range of skills and sociocultural experiences come from all over the world, they bring valuable insights. When they then work for organisations based in Northern Ireland, that strengthens our knowledge base and makes us more competitive.”

Allstate, a subsidiary of the US-based Allstate Corporation, is a perfect example of how the symbiotic relationship between Queen’s and businesses benefits both Belfast and the wider Northern Ireland economy. It provides innovative business support services to its parent company, in technology, data, AI, cybersecurity and finance. Allstate is one of the largest property insurance companies in the US, and a Forbes 100 company.

Dr Stephen McKeown, Dr Stephen McKeown, Vice President of International Operations and Managing Director, Allstate.

“Allstate was recently recognised as one of the most innovative companies in North America, and the work that we are doing is a key part of enabling that,” explains the organisation’s Vice President of International Operations and Managing Director Dr Stephen McKeown. And, as he points out, it was the first foreign direct investment company to come into Northern Ireland after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Close connections with Queen’s ensure the company has access to the skilled graduates it needs – and that the University knows how to equip them with those skills. “Our work spans everything from highly agile software development to artificial intelligence, data science and cybersecurity, and Queen’s has active research in all these areas,” says Stephen.

“Allstate was one of the first founding constituents of cybersecurity moving into Belfast – the city is now recognised as a global centre of excellence for that work – and Queen’s has the Centre for Secure Information Technologies. The access to the experts, talent and type of innovation that they’re doing is core to adding value to Allstate. Our business is based on talent – and talented people coming in. That’s what we invest in, and that’s what gives our model longevity.”

Allstate here is a centre of excellence for digital innovation and a vital part of the ecosystem in Northern Ireland. AMPLY Discovery – Dermot Tierney’s company – is also breaking important new ground. Dermot explains that as genetically driven cancers are becoming more stubborn, bacterial infections and other complex diseasesare becoming drug resistant:

“These ailments affect tens of millions globally, but drug discovery is very expensive and very slow. We want to redefine that process. Our tech is the equivalent of a billion Petri dishes on a billion windowsills.”

Rather than designing its own molecules, AMPLY Discovery harnesses the power of AI and evolution. The startup’s tech analyses the genome of plants and animals, looking for molecules that have evolved over millions of years to perform a particular function – which may be the perfect molecule to fight a disease, just as Sir Alexander Fleming discovered with penicillin in his Petri dish.

“We’re using nature to do the heavy lifting,” says Dermot. “For example, if an animal is less susceptible to a certain kind of bacteria, we can analyse their genome to understand what is going on in their biology to make them less susceptible. That can present us with new therapeutic opportunities.”

Queen’s has played a crucial role in the company’s development. CEO and Co-Founder Ben Thomas carried out the research that underpins AMPLY Discovery’s tech at the University, which was also where the two met – Dermot was then the University’s Head of IP and Commercialisation.

“The company wouldn’t exist without Queen’s,” says Dermot. “It can be hard, with a research idea, to pin down exactly where the value is. Queen’s has a process where a researcher will work with someone like me, who will take the business through those first stages and give a small amount of funding. That then allows you to go to the next stage. And, of course, Queen’s is an investor in the company, which is quite rare for universities.”

Since it spun out from Queen’s in 2021, AMPLY Discovery has received $2.15m of funding, and now comprises a team of five. “There is a lot of opportunity right now,” explains Dermot. “Building a startup ecosystem is slow work, and we’re at the early stages of that. We need the gravitational pull that an institution like Queen’s has.”

From universities to research institutes, startups to world-leading multinational firms, few can deny that Belfast is becoming the place to be for a highly skilled and talented workforce. Indeed, Belfast has recently been named one of the world’s top 10 ‘digital economies of the future’ – the only UK city apart from London to appear – and was recently ranked by Forbes as the 10th best city in the world for work-life balance.

“It’s completely transformed in the past 25 years,” explains Stephen. “And my belief is that the potential was always there. Creating opportunities, coming together and a lot of hard work by many people in many positions have made it possible.”