Belfast Firm Wins Innovative Rates Identification Contract

Belfast's Analytics Engines and Southampton's NQuiring Minds have been successful in the second phase of a project tasked with finding more effective ways of identifying businesses that should be paying rates.

Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Economy Minister Simon Hamilton, and Belfast Lord Mayor Alderman Brian Kingston announced that the two companies have been awarded a contract to build working prototypes of their proposal.

Lord Mayor Brian Kingston said: "Becoming a smart data-driven city is one of the aims of our new strategy for the city, the Belfast Agenda. This project will demonstrate the value of the approach while at the same time helping to ensure that the rates burden is fairly shared across all relevant businesses. I congratulate Analytics Engines and NQuiring Minds for winning these contracts and look forward to seeing the results of their work over the next few months."

Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir added: "Rates are a vital source of public revenue. Money raised through our rates funds our schools, hospitals and other essential public services and so I welcome this investment in the development of cutting edge technology to help us maximise rates revenue."

The Rates project is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition and is a partnership between Belfast City Council, Department of Finance's Land and Property Services, the Future Cities Catapult and the Department for the Economy.

The project has been funded under the Executive's SBRI Challenge Fund which is managed jointly by the Department of Finance and the Department of the Economy.

(MH/JP)