Colm Higgins

Colm Higgins is Chief Technology Officer at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC), a £98m industry-led innovation centre funded through the Belfast Region City Deal at Queen’s University Belfast. Appointed to the role in 2024, Colm brings over 35 years of experience in promoting technology adoption within manufacturing businesses and led the Northern Ireland Technology Centre (NITC) for 15 years, overseeing its integration into AMIC. Colm manages technology strategy at AMIC, including all Digital Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 programmes. He has led projects implementing Digital Twins for manufacturing, Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), shop floor connectivity (including 5G networks), IT/OT/MES integration, and cost and energy modelling and visualisation for manufacturing analytics. Colm has secured substantial private and public sector funding and successfully delivered collaborative R&D projects with partners such as Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), and Invest NI.