
The government has announced an additional £8 million funding for SME manufacturers under what it is calling the Made Smarter Adoption programme.
The funding is limited to firms in the North-west, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands. It is focused on adopting digital technology at up to 1,000 companies.
Additional funding follows the two-year, £25 million North-west Pilot project, announced in 2018. Though welcome, the £8 million available, and regional restrictions, is much less than what many had hoped for, who have urged the government to move to a well-funded, national scheme for digital adoption and productivity improvement.