Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting in May 2024, it had endorsed the Enterprise and Business Growth workplan for the 24/25 year. The report set out key priority areas of work for the 2024/25 financial year, aligning to the delivery of the targets under the ‘Our Economy’ pillar of the Belfast Agenda. 

            The report had provided plans for scaling support and innovation, focusing on key technologies and priority sectors, including Fintech and Financial Services, Creative and Digital Life and Health Sciences, and Advanced Manufacturing. Since that time, officers had continued to work closely with the City Innovation Team to develop and deliver on new interventions which build capacity among local businesses – including those aligned to the Belfast Region City Deal interventions. Through this work and engagement with stakeholders in the wider ecosystem, including Digital Catapult, Ulster University, Queen’s University, and the Fintech Corridor, the Senior Manager, Economy, explained that two key projects had been identified which were considered to have clear alignment to the overall plan and which could lever resources and support from other key organisations. 

Fintech Support Programme

            Working in partnership with the Fintech Corridor, the Fintech Support Programme would aim to address the issues and strategic objectives identified in the Fintech NI action plan. The Fintech Corridor was established in 2020 and was a cross-border cluster working with multiple Fintech companies, academic institutions, and development agencies along the Dublin to Belfast corridor.  It supported local SMEs working in the financial services to utilise new technology to grow and scale and provided important networking opportunities for companies along the corridor as well as with international companies working in this space.

            The Senior Manager, Economy, advised that the Council sought to support 40 Belfast based companies to provide new partnership and networking opportunities, mentoring to support business growth, scaling and access to finance, and to look at opportunities to support the skills development and pipeline into the sector.

            The support programme would focus on addressing specific barriers to SME growth and would provide the tools to overcome these barriers, including mentoring, education, and support to enable business and product development, route to market engagements enabling b2b opportunities for Fintech SMEs, facilitated networking and collaborative space to explore and develop innovation, future opportunity identification and shaping SMEs for a growth mindset.

Advanced Media Production Capacity Programme

            The Senior Manager, Economy, informed the Committee that, working in partnership with Digital Catapult, the Advanced Media Production (AMP) capacity programme would aim to address key barriers to growth and explore opportunities for creative digital SMEs to engage with large scale Advanced Media Production (AMP) facilities such as Studio Ulster. The AMP programme would support up to 50 Belfast based companies wishing to build capacity in the commercial use of, and access to, Advanced Media Production (AMP). Through this programme businesses would have the opportunity to gain valuable skills and learning linked to Advanced Media Production and Studio Ulster in particular, to apply this new understanding to offer potential new market opportunities and to develop a pathway for local SMEs to engage and benefit from large scale City Deal projects, Studio Ulster, in this case.

Test trading opportunities for growing businesses

            The May 2024 Committee report had provided an overview of the role which the Enterprise and Business Growth team takes in supporting businesses at all stages of their journey, including improving start-up and survival rates of new businesses and encouraging a culture of entrepreneurship across the city.

            The report had outlined plans for the continuation of the Council’s dedicated start up space at St George’s Market. Since April this year, the team had enhanced the promotion of this service and demand had grown for the offer as a result. Two stalls at the market were set aside for new traders and participants rotated on a six-week basis in order to ensure that businesses got a feel for the retail environment – as well as ensuring that the opportunity was available to a growing list of interested businesses.  Further to this, the team had enhanced its stakeholder engagement, ensuring that services were accessible in all areas of Belfast and across all communities. Through this stakeholder engagement, the Council had explored various opportunities with shopping centres and trading locations across Belfast to explore further opportunities for test trading. As part of this engagement, the team had identified an opportunity to provide test trading to approximately 30 pre/early start businesses in a busy retail environment.

            In order to pilot this approach, the team had developed a partnership with the Kennedy Centre in West Belfast.  Through this, a space would be provided for approximately 30 traders over the duration of the pilot.  If feedback was positive and this process successful, the team proposed providing test trading opportunities across other retail locations in Belfast. Early discussions were already under way to identify viable opportunities.  The pilot would include wraparound support being provided to the businesses through the established Go Succeed service and each business would avail of branding, marketing, and sales support. Following successful completion of the pilot programme, the Kennedy Centre had committed to a period of reduced costs on more permanent trading space within the centre. A maximum budget of £20,000 was proposed for this activity to include pilot development, recruitment and marketing, wraparound support for businesses, and evaluation of the pilot.

The Committee:

·        Noted and approved the allocation of £20,000 from the existing 2024/25 Economic Development budget to support the Fintech Support Programme, in partnership with the Fintech Corridor;

·        Noted and approved the allocation of up to £65,000 from the existing 2024/25 Economic Development project to support the Advanced Media Production (AMP) capacity programme in partnership with Digital Catapult; and

·        Noted and endorsed the proposal to invest in a localised test trading pilot to support pre/early start businesses with a maximum budget of £20,000.