Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is offering help to small and medium sized businesses that are looking to invest in their ICT hardware and software.

The Chamber has been awarded £500,000 via the European Regional Development Fund, which can be allocated to companies across Merseyside.

John Blades, ICT Investment Fund Administrator, said: “We will award grants of between £10-50K  which must be spent by 30 November 2008. The funding can be up to 40% of the total project cost and covers the costs of new technology investments. “

The funding is open to businesses in the Merseyside area, whether or not they are Chamber members.

If you would like more information about how the ICT Investment Fund can help your businesses please call John Blades at Liverpool Chamber of Commerce on 0151 227 1234 or visit  the ICT Investment Fund website at http://www.ict-invest.info/

[From: http://liverpoolchamber.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/new-funding-support-for-ict-investment/]

The £1m ICT Investment Fund was set up to help small businesses on Merseyside improve their competitiveness and turnover by investing in technology.

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is responsible for managing the programme on behalf of Government Office for the North West. The project is funded through the Objective 1 Programme for Merseyside.

ICT Fund administrator, John Blades said: “We’ve granted funding to 29 companies ranging from manufacturers to accountants.”

The fund provides up to 40% towards investments in technology. Grants are available from between £10k and £25k. John continued: “There has been a great deal of interest in the project and I estimate that we will have allocated the remainder of the fund by August.”

Recent beneficiaries include charted accountants and business advisors, Wilson Henry Partnership who purchased a new telephony system and supporting IT that enabled them to increase employee flexibility and contact with the office and clients.

Southport-based manufacturer of filing systems, Railex used the bulk of their budget for upgrading their back office system to an SQL-based database providing better information throughout the company and to customers.

Director, David Windsor explained: “The funding has enabled us to put in place a system of dealing with order requests where none existed previously. Without the ICT fund we wouldn’t have been able to buy the software which has given us new capabilities and opportunities.”

If you would like further information or help with an application, call John Blades on 0151 227 1234 or email john.blades@liverpoolchamber.org.uk.

More details can be found at www.ict-invest.info