If you are a business looking to increase your digital efforts and need help in doing so, Digital Boost is a way to get help. The Digital boost Development grant is a grant funded by The Scottish Government to help businesses become more competitive and productive and help Scotland drive forward towards economic recovery, especially after all the problems businesses have faced in past recent years. Digital boost is delivered with the help of Business Gateway and the Scottish Local Authorities and has made £20 million available to help small businesses digitalise.
Digital boost does this by supplying grants to businesses in need. This is done by providing a 1:1 grant and whilst providing aid in other sectors within businesses, but how does this work?
The Business Gateway Scheme, which is part of the Digital boost grant scheme, does this by offering grants to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a 1:1 investment basis grant ranging from £2000 to £25,000. This means that businesses that are eligible for the grant will be able to purchase IT equipment for half the price up to the grant available. Therefore, if a business purchases a laptop for £1000, Digital boost will fund £500 of the purchase once an invoice is sent.
The investment will also provide businesses to gain access to expert advice on how to adopt the new technology in which they have invested in and the skills needed to operate these devices. This will then lead to increased workflow, competitiveness, and resilience within the market.
Digital boost has helped businesses of all sizes around Scotland by funding grants giving them many ways of improving their digital capabilities. One example of a successful grant is Forsyth of Denny, a crane hires transport engineering business which has over 75 employees.
With the slowdown in operations due to recent economic struggles, Digital boost granted a fund allowing them to digitise their operations and create business efficiencies which weren’t previously in place. This allowed them to completely remove the need of paperwork and improve operations.
Are you eligible? How to apply:
To be considered eligible for the digital boost grant, you need to fall under certain criteria as a business within Scotland. In short summary, you need to be a business registered and operating in Scotland, charities and third sector organisations can apply, must have been trading for a minimum of 6 months, be over the age of 18, must be a UK resident with the right to work in the UK, you must fall under the SME criteria, any industry sector is eligible for grants.
If you fall under these criteria, how do you apply?
The application process falls under four stages. The Eligibility Question Set, Digital Integration Plan, Application Form and lastly, the Claim Process, here they are in more detail:
Eligibility question set
As the first step, you will be given a set of questions by Digital boost about your Business which will re determine if you are eligible for the application process. If you are considered eligible through the questions given your place in the queue will be secure.
Digital integration plan
The Digital Integration Plan provides support in identifying which technology and suppliers your Business needs to help your digital efforts. By completing this part of the process, you will receive a full roadmap which will help you underpin the success of your digital project. This can be downloaded as PDF and is easily accessible.
Application form
This is the step in the process where you fill out your application form. Your information should be saved from the eligibility questionnaire so this step will just be you confirming to send off the application.
Claim process
After you receive your grant, you will have a month to complete your digital project and submit an invoice of all your digital spend. This will then be sent to the claim process where your digital spending will be reviewed and verified.
What can you use the grant for?
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Reducing operating costs
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Improve your market share
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Increase Revenue
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Improve Cyber security posture
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Transfer your business online
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Buying IT hardware
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Digital Consultancy
Is this grant still available?
Currently closed. This grant normally fills up within a few hours of opening. To be included in future rounds, complete the eligibility checker on the Digital Boost website. So make sure to follow them in social media and keep updated with their program so the next time they are available you will be the first to know!
There are other digital funds that you can check out whilst digital boost isn’t available:
Digital skills
Digital Skills have provided an £8.5 million fund to Skills Development Scotland to run a digital skills programme to help with digital challenges currently being faced in Scotland’s economy.
Digital growth fund
This fund provides loans to companies to aid with cyber security training. This loan has a fund of £36 million in the span of the next 3 years, where up to 6,000 people will be trained.
Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership (DSBEP)
The Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership is for public and private sector businesses. They have invested a total of £15.5 million in aiding Scottish businesses with their digital awareness. They have helped Digital Boost, Digital Tourism Scotland and many more.
Conclusion
The Digital boost grant program continues to help businesses in Scotland year to year. If you are interested in increasing your digital efforts, make sure to get informed on Digital boosts yearly schedule for when their application process begins.
