A GROUP of digital businesses in the Tees Valley has moved a step closer to becoming a world-class centre for the industry after securing £1.6m of investment The investment has come at the same time as the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) has urged the Government to upgrade the region’s digital infrastructure.

DigitalCity Business has been awarded about £810,000 of European Union investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Competitiveness Programme 2007-13, managed by regional development agency One North East, which is also investing £480,000 into the project. Additional funding of £370,000 has been handed over by Middlesbrough Council.

The project, based in the flagship business building Boho One, is part of Digital- City, the joint initiative originally developed by Middlesbrough Council and Teesside University to develop a digital industry in the area. Over the next five years, it aims to create 20 firms, increase turnover and international trade and generate hundreds of jobs.

Mark Elliott, director of DigitalCity Business, said the funding would help deliver high quality specialist support for small to mediumsized enterprises.

He said: “DigitalCity Business’s overarching aim is to create and drive the services, initiatives and activities that will continue to support and stimulate the creation of a self-sustaining, vibrant and successful digital media, digital technology and creative sector in the Tees Valley and the North-East and we are now on track to achieve these aims.” However, the NECC believes that unless much-needed upgrades are made to the digital network in the region, businesses will not be able to prosper and, as a result, the local economy will suffer.

In a letter sent to Business Secretary Vince Cable; the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Sport and the Olympics, Jeremy Hunt, and MPs and local authorities across the North-East, the NECC has called for swifter implementation of digital policy to ensure businesses are equipped with the infrastructure to grow.

Mark Stephenson, policy advisor at NECC, said: “Digital infrastructure is of paramount importance to the region’s businesses, and we believe that local authorities must seek to ensure there is effective investment in this to cater for the needs of businesses.

“Let’s be clear. This is not just an issue that affects businesses with bespoke technical or digital needs. Businesses and indeed households of all types rely on digital infrastructure, and we must ensure that we have the right level of investment in this to allow our businesses to develop.”