The clean growth and low carbon clean tech sector is expected to grow four times faster than the rest of the economy and the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) has earmarked funding to help strengthen links between local environmental and innovation businesses.
SELEP’s Strategic Board has agreed to provide £129,500 from its Sector Support Fund to a project that will map the supply chains for clean energy industries across East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock.
Christian Brodie, Chairman of SELEP said:
“The low carbon economy is big business and getting bigger. We want to make sure all of our area’s 170,000 businesses who are directly or indirectly involved can make the most of the future commercial opportunities.
“By having a detailed understanding for how the clean tech works in terms of its supply chain, we will be able to identify barriers and challenges, and identify our local businesses in this emerging and growing sector.”
The project will help contribute to delivering the clean growth priorities of the SELEP’s Local Industrial Strategy and how it can drive business growth and employment opportunities for the 4.7 million people who live in the area.
It will be delivered across the SELEP area by Kent County Council and build upon the work of the LOCASE (Low Carbon Across the South East), the £6m EU funded project which helped SMEs.
The SELEP Sector Support Fund totals £500,000 per annum with a maximum of £200,000 being available per project. Since its inauguration in 2017, the Sector Support Fund has provided funding for ten projects worth a total of £1.049m; helping everything from coastal communities, through to investment in the arts, food growth, teaching and beyond.