Merseyside Digital Development

The £1m ICT Investment Fund was set up to help small businesses on Merseyside improve their competitiveness and turnover by investing in technology.

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is responsible for managing the programme on behalf of Government Office for the North West. The project is funded through the Objective 1 Programme for Merseyside.

ICT Fund administrator, John Blades said: “We’ve granted funding to 29 companies ranging from manufacturers to accountants.”

The fund provides up to 40% towards investments in technology. Grants are available from between £10k and £25k. John continued: “There has been a great deal of interest in the project and I estimate that we will have allocated the remainder of the fund by August.”

Recent beneficiaries include charted accountants and business advisors, Wilson Henry Partnership who purchased a new telephony system and supporting IT that enabled them to increase employee flexibility and contact with the office and clients.

Southport-based manufacturer of filing systems, Railex used the bulk of their budget for upgrading their back office system to an SQL-based database providing better information throughout the company and to customers.

Director, David Windsor explained: “The funding has enabled us to put in place a system of dealing with order requests where none existed previously. Without the ICT fund we wouldn’t have been able to buy the software which has given us new capabilities and opportunities.”

If you would like further information or help with an application, call John Blades on 0151 227 1234 or email john.blades@liverpoolchamber.org.uk.

More details can be found at www.ict-invest.info