The Centre for Digital Innovation expands following new Barclays partnership

Today (October 24), C4DI, The Centre for Digital Innovation and Barclays Eagle Labs have announced a new partnership that will see the bank launch a programme in Yorkshire.

This is aiming to help build a community for entrepreneurs to accelerate and scale their businesses and provide an opportunity for traditional organisations to explore new technologies.

Based at the C4DI Building in Hull, and combining the innovative Barclays Eagle Lab model with C4DI incubator success, the programme will support Hull’s entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses looking to expand.

C4DI is a privately funded technology incubator helping tech companies grow and traditional businesses innovate.

John Connolly, managing director of C4DI, said: “C4DI has grown significantly over the last few years with an increased number of tech and traditional businesses being part of our community.

“We now want to scaleup our work and the partnership with Barclays experts opens up mentoring, connections and collaborations required for Hull’s businesses to flourish and help them grow on the world stage.”

C4DI’s community of over 1,000 people sits at the heart of Hull which was recently highlighted in the government’s Tech Nation Report - seeing a 15 per cent increase in tech jobs with over 7,000 people now employed in the sector.

Hull was also noted to have a unique ecosystem making it the most cost effective place in the UK to be running a tech company and seeing a 21 per cent increase in startups.

C4DI’s model brings together traditional businesses with fast tech startups through its custom innovation programmes and startup incubation.

The C4DI Community, powered by Barclays Eagle Lab will build on three key areas of activity; helping businesses to plug in to the Barclays national network, access fledgling business support, High Growth and Scaleup support as well as build on the network for traditional businesses to access high tech knowledge.

The programme officially launches on Thursday October 25 with a grand launch event at the Hull Minster.

Steve Mullins, Barclays’ area director for Yorkshire, added: “Hull is an exciting digital hub with growth potential and our new partnership, which forms part of our wider growth strategy in Yorkshire to support entrepreneurs, startups and accelerate companies, will stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the local area and across Yorkshire.

“As a partner C4DI brings unrivalled expertise in the digital sector and we are equipped to help this dynamic community, encouraging innovation and stimulating business growth in the city.”

Based on the ground floor of the C4DI Building at Queen Street, Hull, C4DI Community powered by Barclays Eagle Lab will be supporting businesses across all sector industries including: IoT; engineering; renewables; logistics; and health and wellbeing.

Barclays recently launched a new £500m growth fund for SME businesses in the North of England, intended for SMEs in the Northern Powerhouse region.

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →