US firm RiverStone has chosen Northern Ireland for a £2.5million Research & Development (R&D) project to create a new and innovative re-insurance platform called Orbit. It is anticipated the new platform could secure in excess of £3m additional growth for the company by 2029.
As a UK subsidiary of RiverStone, RS Progress is an IT service provider focusing on run-off insurance, a growing market estimated to be worth US $90bn globally. RS Progress came to Belfast in 2021 and currently employs 26 staff.
Making the announcement, Graham Reid, Site Director at RS Progress said: “Investment in technology and innovation is central to the continued growth and future profitability of RiverStone. This investment reflects the confidence and value proposition of our phenomenal talent in the Belfast operation which has become a centre of R&D, application modernisation and AI expertise. This, alongside the support from Invest NI, was instrumental in choosing Northern Ireland to make this investment.”
“Our new platform will offer commercial advantages by carrying out the complete processing required for assumed claims handling, while it will also be engineered as a new product for sale into the global reinsurance industry.”
The R&D investment is being supported by Invest Northern Ireland, which successfully secured it in the face of competition from other potential locations.
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Dr Vicky Kell, Director of Innovation, Research and Development at Invest NI said: “This project through a combination of the availability of talented software engineers and Invest NI’s support secured it for Northern Ireland.”
“This investment in R&D will help advance the cloud-native and AI skills of its team here in Belfast and aligns with the ambitions of Northern Ireland’s Innovation Strategy and Invest NI’s own strong focus on innovation and skills development. It will also contribute to building the reputation of Northern Ireland’s software sector through the association with a major player in the global insurance market and its global customer base.”
Invest NI’s R&D support is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Northern Ireland (2014–2020) Programme.