Funding

We partnered with Eastbourne Borough Council to win funding from UK Government's Coastal Communities Fund

Activities

In January 2015 we were awarded £150,000 from the UK government’s Coastal Communities Fund.

Until then, TechResort largely relied on volunteer effort and borrowed kit. This money allowed us to open a physical office in Eastbourne, and scale up our work. Successes included:

• 20 new full time local tech and digital jobs, and safeguarded 8 existing jobs
• 3 new full time jobs at TechResort
• pledges of £1.5m to bid for an office building to convert into a tech space (sadly we were outbid!)
• coding and making sessions for 180 students
• real world projects for ‘A’ level computer science students (our work won SPARK award)
• convening the first round table of local industry, education and government leaders to discuss digital skills challenges
• helping the Boho 2015 winter event participants with making skills
• running #MondayMoney business support events
• running #DigitalDrinks social events

Read more about our project successes.

Learnings

This was our first properly funded project, and TechResort did a lot of growing up in two years. We learned a lot about local skills needs, and how to play our part in a significant publicly funded project. This experience helped us get to where we are today.

We also made a lot of friends along the way. Many people in Eastbourne see the digital sector as a vital part of our economy, and want to help it grow.

This project also shows what can be done with small amounts of consistent funding. It meant that we were able to try out ideas, and put learnings into practice. We were also able to plan ahead, without having to worry so much about money. This is something councils and governments should consider as they plan new skills development programmes.