Locations

Belfast, United Kingdom


Global Research and Business Incubation Belfast was founded in January 2005 as part of SAP (UK) Limited and with support from InvestNI. It is embedded in the advanced research environment of Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) and works closely with local universities Queens University Belfast and University of Ulster (UU), and Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP). Ongoing support from InvestNI has enabled the lab to grow in size and diversity from its initial team of four to 50 today. Our location in Belfast works in the areas of performance engineering, virtualization, natural language processing, smart energy systems, and future computing architectures. For all these technology areas, InvestNI has helped to reduce the research investment risk by providing financial support to develope the initial concepts.

The Belfast location participates in two distinct, yet complementary, research areas under the Applied Research umbrella: Big Data and Technology Infrastructure. The Big Data team works on cost effective approaches to processing massive data and extracting the valuable patterns and information hidden by its volume, velocity, and variability. The Belfast researchers are particularly interested in extracting meaning from unstructured and semi-structured text contained in large, complex, and interrelated documents; real-time analytics and mining on business processes; and analytics for business continuity management. The Technology Infrastructure team supports this by providing the next-generation computer platforms which enable the types of analysis performed by the Big Data team. A few of the key areas the team is focusing on are performance engineering, virtualization, and systems management.

Environment – Working with World-Class Researchers and Innovators

The work associated with the Belfast office has created close links with Intel and HP, with regard to developing complementary expertise in the area of computer platforms.

The lab has close links to Intel Labs Europe, based in Leixlip. As a result of the close relationship, Intel and SAP have jointly invested into a partnership (CoLab) within the SAP office in Belfast to jointly work on research related to future computer platforms and smart energy, a high-data volume use case motivating the requirement for next generation computer platforms. In addition to the work of CoLab, SAP and Intel have close collaborations in the area of business-driven IT management through our partnership in IVI (Innovation Value Institute) and also in the area of long-term archive of computer environments.

The HP partnership revolves around a joint interest in developing and improving the manageability of applications within an IT environment. Currently, this work focuses around the utilization of HP Cell technology to provide a dynamic computer infrastructure for the deployment of complete IT landscapes for testing environments.

As part of SAP’s commitment to promoting STEM subjects in primary and secondary education, the Belfast team is involved with the STEMNET STEM Ambassadors program, and SAP is a major sponsor of the First Lego League competition.

Collaborators

Current Job Opportunities

We offer various opportunities for experienced researchers, entrants, and students to work in an international, application-oriented, and collaborative research environment.
Learn more about current opportunities

Belfast Fast Facts

  • Our Topics: Big Data, Technology Infrastructure
  • Academic Environment: Imperial College London, Lancaster University, Queen's University Belfast, University College London, University of Manchester, University of Ulster
  • Industrial Environment: HP, Intel, SQS
  • Address: Global Research and Business Incubation Belfast; SAP (UK) Limited; The Concourse, Queen's Road; Queen's Island, Titanic Quarter; BT3 9DT Belfast; United Kingdom
  • Phone/E-mail: +44 28 9078 5700 / research.belfast@sap.com