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The International Fund for Ireland is to back a major project linking Ulster's two universities and two in the Irish Republic.

The Biomedical and Environmental Sensor Technology (BEST) Centre is believed to be the largest project supported by the fund, and will initially create 11 research posts.

Headed by the William Montgomery, former chief of research defence systems at the Belfast Aerospace firm Shorts, its main aim will be to coordinate various research projects to help industry exploit them commercially .

The centre will help the development of high-technology sensors for medical and environmental applications, and the success of new devices, it is hoped, will lead to the growth of the sensor industry in Ireland and to more jobs.

All of the universities involved, the University of Ulster, Queens, University of Limerick and Dublin City University already have track records in areas of sensor technology.