Lincolnshire UK Fund Encourages SMEs to Harness Superfast Broadband

The Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) has teamed up with Creative England and the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) in order to offer grants worth up to £25,000 to small and medium sized businesses that can develop innovative solutions for taking advantage of superfast broadband connectivity.

The grants, which will be extracted from a limited total pot of £150,000, are separately designed to complement LCC’s £48m Onlincolnshire project; this is currently working to make BT’s superfast broadband FTTC/P (25Mbps+) network available to 88% of all homes and businesses in the county by April 2016 (rising to around 95% by 2017).

Ideas for grant applications could include anything from “apps that measure your carbon footprint to industry-specific auction websites or intelligent tourism apps“, although these are just examples and local businesses have full flexibility to come up with something different.

Colin Davie, LCC Executive Member for Economic Development, said:

“Over the next few years we’ll be dramatically improving broadband speeds across the county, and we want to make sure local businesses are in pole position to reap the benefits.

Superfast speeds will mean that businesses will be able to improve the way they operate by taking advantage of global connections with customers and suppliers. In addition, they can utilise advances in digital technology to both enhance and improve efficiency and to develop new processes, products and services.

We’re already providing a wide range of support to help our firms make the most out of digital technology, and this project will take things another step forward.”

But local business had better be quick because the deadline for expressions of interest is Sunday 29th June 2014. Applicants can apparently register and apply via a Creative England registration form.