The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is launching a £12.09 million Digital Growth Grant.
The grant will focus on opening up access to skills training and advice and providing support services to the digital and tech sector over two years.
Bids will be invited to address identified market failures and accelerate the growth of tech start-up and scale-up ecosystems across the regions and nations of the UK. The successful bidder will be awarded up to £12.09 million to be spent over two financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Objectives
The objectives of the Digital Growth Grant will be based around:
- Delivering support services to the digital sector, particularly in transformative/emerging technologies. These services should address key challenges faced by a wide range of companies from seed stage to series A/B, their first or second round of financing.
- Developing the growth of regional support networks for tech start ups and scale ups. Activities should deliver concrete improvements against three or more areas identified in DCMS Regional Ecosystems Report: Investment, Skills, Innovation, Infrastructure and Business Growth/GVA. Interventions should be tailored to local needs and tech specialisms, and developed in partnership with local bodies.
- Ensure founders and firms can access digital entrepreneurship and investment readiness training, with tailored advice to help develop their skills to start and grow a tech business. Clearly signpost start-ups and scale-ups to the digital skills initiatives in private and the public sector (DCMS’ local digital skills partnerships) and share information on the types of roles available in tech companies, the skills required to access these roles, and direction to low/no cost skills provision to acquire those skills.
- Promoting and raising awareness of the strength and competitiveness of the UK tech sector with the aim of boosting investor confidence and inspiring the next generation of tech workers and entrepreneurs.
The competition will be run this summer and the successful organisation will receive the funding from Saturday 1 April 2023. Further details on the eligibility criteria and application process will be published in due course
Timelines are indicative only and subject to change.
1. June 2022: Applications open
2. August 2022: Applications close
3. September 2022: Successful bidder notified
4. April 2023: Successful bidder to begin activities
5. April 2025: Funding end date
For further information readers can contact: dcmsdigitalgrowthgrant@dcms.gov.uk
