Newcastle Digital Resiliance grant

A woman and a man sitting and having a discussion about technology

GRANT OPPORTUNITY

Digital Tech Resilience Grant for SMEs in Newcastle

Exclusive to participants of our free Digital Pathfinders programme, we are now able to support Newcastle-based SMEs who interact with customers on a face-to-face basis, with accessing a brand-new grant. The grant will part-cover the costs of implementing a digital technology to increase their efficiency and covid resilience.

Empty shopping street Newcastle upon Tyne

The Digital Tech Resilience Grant

Funded by Newcastle City Council, the Digital Tech Resilience Grant will cover 50% of the costs (up to £3000) to implement a technology that increases business and covid resilience. The aim of the grant is to ultimately improve public health by reducing the risk of increased covid cases. Examples of technologies that would be eligible for the grant include:
‍
- a technology that allows for multi
-channel sales
- a technology which reduces the need for direct face to face interactions
- a technology which better manages the movement of people.

For example, you could be a taxi driver looking to introduce a digital payment system to reduce cash handling, or a retailer encouraging digital pre-orders to reduce unnecessary touching of in-store products.

Help with scoping your technology

Not sure how technology might be able to help you become more resilient?The Digital Tech Resilience Grant is your next step after accessing free business support delivered by our team of digital experts, to help you derisk your investment. Our support is tailored to your business and digital needs, whether you’re completely new to technology or already know what you’re looking for.Our support activities can encompass, but are not limited to, the following services:

- Exploring how technology could drive covid resilience within your particular business;
- Understanding what functionality your technology would require;
- Scoping budgets and understanding value for money in order to derisk investment into technology;
- Supporting procurement and building connections with tech suppliers to facilitate development of the technology.

Coffee shop and bar in Newcastle upon Tyne

Coffee shop and bar in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne

Eligibility

To be eligible for the grant, the following criteria must be met:
- The business must be based in Newcastle
- The business must have been referred for a grant by the Digital Pathfinders team
- The technology should focus on increasing covid resilience, which is judged as any activity that ultimately reduces the risk to the business, staff and customers caused by new Covid related cases, or mitigates against future occurrences.
- The business cannot be in administration, insolvent or in a situation where a strike-off has been made.

The full eligibility details can be viewed by clicking here.

Register with the programme

To register for the Digital Pathfinders programme, complete this form
‍To learn more about the Digital Tech Resilience Grant, please contact us
If you wish to apply for the grant, please get in touch with Digital Pathfinders

FAQ

What counts as Newcastle?
Any business operating in the Newcastle borough is potentially eligible to receive the Digital Tech Resilience Grant. You don’t have to be based in the city centre itself and you don’t need to have premises in Newcastle as long as it can be shown that the public health benefit would be felt within Newcastle. In order to access Digital Pathfinders you are required to be based in the North of Tyne are (Newcastle, North Tyneside or Northumberland).
I’m not based in Newcastle, what support is there for me?
The Digital Pathfinders business support programme is accessible to business, organisations, charities and social enterprises across the North of Tyne including Newcastle, Northumberland and North Tyneside. This means that even if you’re from elsewhere in the North of Tyne area, you will be able to access our free digital support services!
The Digital Tech Resilience Grant is currently only available to Newcastle based businesses.
Is it mandatory to invest in a technology after receiving business support?
No, it is completely optional to invest into a digital technology within your organisation. Our business support is aimed at derisking investment by helping you explore how technology might be able to support you and to manage expectations surrounding budget and required functionality. If you decide that investment into a technology is currently not right for you, that is completely fine!If you do wish to implement a new technology in your business, there are likely to be costs involved. The Digital Tech Resilience Grant covers 50% of the costs associated with implementing your digital technology, which means the remaining 50% will have to be covered by yourself.