Digital Enterprise Gift Card Balance

Digital Enterprise – Digital Growth Vouchers

DKE Meet the Experts – 9th December 2021 DKE Meet the Experts – December 2021 Thursday 9th December 2021, 1-hour appointments available 9am-4.30pm Book your place: Click Here Booking Deadline: Wednesday 1st December 2021 The DKE Meet the Experts returns on Thursday 9th December 2021. The event is organised by the Digital Knowledge Exchange and is a one-day opportunity to receive expert one-to-one consultations on the digital challenges faced by your business. In this article, you will be able to read more about the experts who are providing support to businesses on the day. They share our passion for encouraging businesses to do more with digital technology to …Read More DKE Meet the Experts – 28th October 2021 DKE Meet the Experts – October 2021 Thursday 28th October 2021, 1-hour appointments available 9am-4.30pm Booking Deadline: Wednesday 20th October Book your place: Click Here The DKE Meet the Experts returns on Thursday 28th October 2021. The event is organised by the Digital Knowledge Exchange and is a one-day opportunity to receive expert one-to-one consultations on the digital challenges faced by your business. In this article, you will be able to read more about the experts who are providing support to businesses on the day. They share our passion for encouraging businesses to do more with digital technology to drive …Read More Meet the Mentors – DKE Virtual Mentoring Day – August 2021 DKE Virtual Mentoring Day – August 2021 Thursday 5th August, 1-hour appointments available 9am-4.30pm Registration Deadline: Monday 26th July To book your place: Click Here The DKE Virtual Mentoring Day returns on Thursday 5th August. The event is organised by the Digital Knowledge Exchange and is an opportunity to receive expert one-to-one advice on all things digital for your business. In this article, you will be able to read more about the mentors who are providing support on the day. They share our passion for encouraging businesses to do more with digital technology to build resilience, boost productivity, seize opportunities …Read More

Digital Growth Vouchers – Digital Enterprise

With digital technology playing an increasingly important role in helping businesses to grow – can you afford to miss out? Our Digital Growth Vouchers offer eligible firms help to fund their digital/IT investment.Click the button below to read our Guidance Notes before applyingREGISTER NOWGUIDANCE NOTESSUMMARYDigital technology is transforming the way in which businesses operate, helping them to gain a competitive edge and achieve long term success. Our Digital Growth Vouchers, which are worth between £2,000 and £12,500 are designed to help small to medium sized businesses that are looking to grow, by covering some of the costs of their digital/IT investment, so that they can achieve greater profitability and reach their full potential.Our vouchers will fund typically 50% of the cost of a project, however, there is the chance you could receive a higher level of funding depending upon the levels of digital transformation, business performance, productivity and innovation your project will achieve. The total project value must be between £4,000 – £25,000.Our Digital Growth Voucher scheme is a competitive process where proposals are compared to each other to determine those that offer the biggest potential for business growth and digital maturity.To be eligible for a Digital Growth Voucher, business must operate predominantly in a business to business (B2B) environment (at least 50%).Our revised guidance for applicants and intermediaries is available to read – click the graphic opposite. Eligible Investment projects for a VoucherDigital Growth Vouchers are intended for the acquisition of I.T hardware, software purchases or upgrades to digital connectivity. Funding can only be used for the purchasing of equipment or software and not for the on-going revenue costs of leasing them.When applying for a voucher it is important that applicants describe the purpose for which the acquired asset or investment will be used and how it will benefit business performance, since our funding is there to help to achieve ‘Additionality’ i.e. to add value. It cannot be used to merely replace old equipment or infrastructure, where no value is added to a firm’s performance, capability or capacity.   Therefore, voucher applications which do not demonstrate how the investment will generate any economic growth or impact for the business will be rejected.Examples of eligible hardware/software solutions for a voucherNew laptops, desktops or tablet computers, VOIP telephony or networking devices e.g. routers and servers, etc.Enhanced digital connectivity – particularly when this leads to download speeds exceeding 30 mbps. However, the grant will only be able to cover the cost of the installation not any on-going revenue costs.The acquisition of new software to manage the business including a CRM or ERP. The grant can cover integration and consultancy costs too, but this is capped at 40% of the total project cost.Example: A manufacturing business in Huddersfield is aiming to grow and achieve digital transformation by selling its products online through the commissioning of a new e-commerce website. All products made by firm will be available for customers to purchase.The website has a total cost of £10,000 (excluding VAT) – which includes costs relating to its design, development and integration. The firm can apply for a Digital Growth voucher worth between £2,000 to £12,500. The business owner expects to see employment growth of 10% and turnover to increase by 20% over the next two years, as a result of this investment.When can you access funding?The Digital Growth Voucher scheme opens in tranches throughout the year, with an allocated fixed amount of funding for vouchers allocated to each tranche.Businesses can register their interest and are able to indicate which tranche of funding they would like to access (if they are eligible for a Digital Growth Voucher). This is particularly helpful for businesses who wish to access funding, but are looking to commence their project at a later date.Funding windows are:TRANCHEFUNDING WINDOWSTATUS101/09/2019 to 31/12/2019Full201/02/2020 to 31/05/2020Full301/09/2020 to 31/12/2020Full401/02/2021 to 31/05/2021Full501/09/2021 to 31/12/2021Available601/02/2022 to 31/05/2022Available701/09/2022 to 31/12/2022Available801/02/2023 to 31/05/2023AvailableApplication ProcessIf you are interested in applying for a Digital Growth Voucher please follow the steps below:Visit the eligibility checkeron our website to see if your business is eligible for Digital Enterprise assistance.If eligible sign up to our Customer Portaland complete the registration form. Please also upload any additional information – such as details on the project you are looking to undertake and quotes – as this can help us to fast track your application.We will assess your registration for business eligibility and consider which form of support we can offer (Digital Growth Voucher, Connectivity Voucher or Digital Knowledge Exchange).If eligible we will confirm which strands of support we can offer you.If approved for a Digital Growth Voucher, we will contact you to learn more about your project to see if it is eligible for our support.Obtain three quotations for your digital transformation project costs (Three quotes are required per item). We understand that this can take some time to complete, leading to a delay in the issuing of a Digital Growth Voucher, as such, interested applicants may wish to start sourcing quotes at the earliest opportunity.If application approved we will send you a Funding Agreement.On receiving the returned Funding Agreement you can commission your suppliers.Once the work has been completed and proof of this is supplied via a claim form we will arrange payment to you.Businesses receiving a Digital Growth Voucher are also able to take advantage of our other strands of support – our Connectivity+ Voucher and Digital Knowledge Exchange.If you have any questions then don’t hesitate to contact us by emailing enquiries.de@leeds.gov.uk or calling 0113 426 0535.