A new business grant scheme, which has injected just under \u00a31.4 million into the local Cambridgeshire and Peterborough economy in England, has already helped local firms to create 42 new-to-the-firm products and enabled 32 businesses to access faster broadband speeds in excess of 30Mbps.<\/p>\n
The scheme itself (‘Digital Technology Grants for Business<\/em>‘), which has now distributed all available funding and exceeded its target of the total number of businesses supported, was designed to support the growth and resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.<\/p>\n Over 150 local companies are stated to have benefitted from this scheme. Each were given the opportunity to apply for grants of between \u00a32,000 and \u00a310,000 to cover up to 80% of their total project costs. The goal was to increase the number of SMEs making productive use of digital technologies and boost local business. Some used the funding to create new products, while others upgraded their broadband connectivity or adopted digital systems.<\/p>\n The scheme has so far seen 42 new-to-the-firm products created and enabled 32 businesses to access broadband speeds in excess of 30Mbps. The combined grant and match funding from eligible SMEs to aid improvements in digital technology has, to date, injected just under \u00a31.4 million into the local economy.<\/p>\n An independent external evaluation of the project has identified that, based on feedback from the businesses supported and data from other similar projects in the UK, the grant scheme will support an increase in Gross Value Added (GVA) across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough of over \u00a34.8m per annum.<\/p>\n Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Our Combined Authority contribution to the Digital Technology Grants for Business has been a game-changer for local firms keen to use digital technology to develop really sustainable practices – including remote working and more efficient business models.<\/p>\n The aim of the scheme was to help Cambridgeshire and Peterborough businesses to survive, develop their resilience, and actually grow during the Covid pandemic, and while coming out of it. As a direct result of their grants, many businesses managed to safeguard a significant number of jobs, and even created new ones.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all about applying the benefit of modern tech to generate good and lasting growth – and our investment is continuing to help businesses access new customers, improve their turnover and productivity, and ultimately increase jobs in our area.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sadly, the digital technology grant scheme is now closed but businesses that weren\u2019t able to apply or would like to explore other options for support should contact the CPCA Growth Hub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new business grant scheme, which has injected just under \u00a31.4 million into the local Cambridgeshire and Peterborough economy in England, has already helped local firms to create 42 new-to-the-firm products and enabled 32 businesses to access faster broadband speeds in excess of 30Mbps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[472,440,38],"class_list":["post-32358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk_isp_news","tag-business","tag-cambridgeshire","tag-politics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"yoast_head":"\n