Katie Gallagher, managing director, Manchester Digital
Manchester Digital MD Katie Gallagher has joined the board at Barclays Eagle Labs Digital Growth Grant.
The bank announced its two year programme of events earlier this week, funded by the Government, which includes the Digital Growth Grant. Combined with Eagle Labs’ existing activity, the Digital Growth Grant has an ambition to support up to 22,000 businesses over the next two-years enabling growth across the UK tech sector.
Katie was invited to sit on the Digital Growth Grant Independent Advisory Board, alongside other senior advisory figures from the tech industry. Their role is to advise on project direction, act as a voice of the community and share best practices, to maximise the impact of the funding.
Katie, who is also the chair of the UK Tech Cluster Group, said: “We welcome the continued investment from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and we are pleased that Barclays Eagle Labs has recognised the need to prioritise investment in the regions, make a commitment to work with local clusters and collaborate with organisations such as UKTCG.
“The Government has committed that at least 80% of the funding to go to areas outside of London, which will enable regional tech hubs to invest in and develop their own strengths and specialist sectors.
“I’m pleased to be part of the Digital Growth Grant Independent Advisory Board and look forward to working alongside their team on launching and shaping this exciting initiative.”
The first series of programmes to launch are:
- Ecosystem Partnership Programme – Enabling organisations outside of London, to apply for funding and deliver their own programmes that best support the challenges they are facing in their local area – whether that’s support for local technology businesses, mentoring for accelerators within that region or bringing together the best in class for a regional industry event. This programme will help deliver on a wider ambition that 80% of businesses across the Digital Growth Grant and existing Eagle Labs activity are outside of London.
- Scaleup Programmes – in collaboration with Cambridge Judge Business School: business leadership teams will receive tailored coaching and access to scaleup-specific learning, to help address their bespoke challenges and achieve their potential. Later in the year, Eagle Labs will deliver an additional six-month scaleup programme working to support companies with a focus on solving some of society’s challenges, in partnership with Plexal.
- HealthTech and AgriTech Industry Bridge Programmes – in partnership with Codebase: a twelve-month programme connecting corporates to startups and scaleups. These programmes will enable startups and scaleups to forge connections with some of the UK’s biggest firms and relevant peers working within their chosen industry, with the potential to share experience, drive collaboration and foster further growth.
- Funding Readiness Programme – in partnership with Capital Enterprise: An additional cohort of Eagle Labs’ virtual three-month programme of webinars, workshops and networking events, to educate founders on funding and to provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to attract investment and fund their business growth.
