North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) has set up a £5 million innovation fund to create a digital ecosystem for public services and small businesses in the region.
It has called for expressions of interest on a range of interventions, including to encourage innovation in health technology and other emerging clusters that have an impact of society.
Other aims include supporting the start up of digital tech businesses and targeting support for existing digital clusters.
The money is to be made available over the next three years for what NTCA has described as “high quality, evidence led and partnership focused proposals”.
Its cabinet member for business competitiveness, Councillor Nick Forbes, said: “We know that the digital sector I one of our major industrial strengths here in the North of Tyne.
“That’s why as a combined authority we’re putting £5 million into an innovation fund to help grow the ecosystem of the sector.
“You will know better than I do what we need to do to attract talent, grow the pool of people doing this kind of work, and to make sure that the digital sector is properly embedded in our thinking for the future, across all of our businesses and public services.”
Image from iStock
