Belfast Region City Deal Launches First Innovation Challenge

The Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) launched its first-ever Contracts for Innovation (CfI) challenge at Belfast City Hall yesterday, calling on businesses to develop innovative solutions that will transform how visitor destinations are managed and experienced.

Contracts for Innovation (CfI) is a £4.4 million initiative designed to help address significant public sector challenges across the Belfast Region. It’s expected that a total of five innovation challenges will be completed over the course of the programme.

Funded through the Belfast Region City Deal and managed by Belfast City Council’s City Innovation Office on behalf of the region's six councils, Contracts for Innovation is supporting councils to adopt a new approach to procurement by identifying priority challenges and working collaboratively with businesses to develop and deliver innovative, effective solutions to complex local government issues. The programme also aims to stimulate research and development activity, supporting innovation, growth and market opportunities for SMEs and businesses across the Belfast Region and beyond.

As the first challenge owner, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is seeking innovative technologies and approaches that can improve the forecasting and management of visitor activity at Castlewellan Forest Park, using the popular destination as a real-world test environment.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Róis-Máire Donnelly said: “Tá Contracts for Innovation ag teacht le gealltanais an Belfast Region City Deal le nuálaíocht a chothú, tacú le fás eacnamaíoch cuimsitheach agus feabhas a chur ar sheirbhísí poiblí ar fud an réigiúin.

“Contracts for Innovation embodies our Belfast Region City Deal commitments to foster innovation, support inclusive economic growth and improve public services across the region. It’s particularly fitting that the first innovation challenge we’re setting the market is focused on how we manage our visitor destinations. Tourism is such an important part of our region’s economy – and we need to improve how we predict and manage visitor flows and their impact on infrastructure, the environment and the experience itself as we develop our visitor offering including Belfast Stories, Bangor Waterfront, Carrickfergus, Destination Royal Hillsborough and The Gobbins Phase II, thanks to Belfast Region City Deal investment.

“It’s our collective ambition that this challenge will not only optimise how Castlewellan Forest Park may be managed, but that it will be a scalable approach that can be applied across other visitor destinations and assets managed by local authorities.

“This Belfast Region City Deal investment is helping to shape the next generation of public sector innovation and giving local businesses an exciting opportunity to demonstrate their capacity to deliver.”

Yesterday’s CfI launch follows a six-week readiness module sprint of collaborative workshops and peer learning, during which officers from the Belfast Region partner councils (Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Belfast City Council, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council) explored how to define complex local government challenges, make better use of data and navigate innovation-led procurement.

Current approaches to monitoring visitor activity are largely retrospective, limiting destination managers’ ability to anticipate demand, respond proactively to emerging pressures and make informed decisions about how they allocate resources.

Businesses selected through the competition will receive funding through a structured, multi-stage process to support the research, development and testing of innovative solutions. This phased approach is designed to reduce commercial risk, encourage participation from innovative organisations and strengthen collaboration between the public sector and industry.

Suppliers can visit https://sdi.click/nmddc to register their interest in the challenge. The deadline for submissions is 4pm on Friday 11 December 2026.