Business Products

Selective Finance for Investment (SFI) is part of a comprehensive suite of funding available to firms in the region including public and private sector loans, equity investment and research and development grants.

We will continue to build on the success of the SFI scheme which in 2006-07 invested £27 million into 100 firms, potentially creating and safeguarding almost 6,000 jobs. In addition, outside of the Business Programme we will implement crosscutting funds for example the Design and Creative Industries Fund and Three Pillars Investment Fund.

North East England offers an extremely attractive and competitive package of Government grants and other incentives to encourage economic development in the region. This section of the site provides the following information:

Local Support
Local authorities in the region provide assistance packages to investors. Such packages may combine financial incentives and other forms of assistance.  The various councils by sub-regional area are listed on this page for further information.

UK Government Support
There are nine DTI schemes tailored for business support.  One NorthEast's Business Finance Team is responsible for delivering and administering two of these business support products, which are Selective Finance for Investment in England and Grant for Research and Development.

Regional Support
These pages provide an overview of available funding in the North East divided into four sections relating to different fund types; equity, loan and grant schemes and a fourth section covering initiatives such as tax relief schemes and loan guarantee schemes.

European Support
Assistance from Europe typically originates from the European Social Fund (ESF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) or the European Investment Bank (EIB).  The European Structural Funds provide grants to support projects throughout the UK to promote social and economic regeneration and competitiveness.