Sift supports Bristol City Council's 'Digital Challenge' bid

Sift is supporting Bristol City Council's bid to be crowned the UK's top digital city in the government's 'Digital Challenge' - and win up to £7 million to use new technology to boost the city's economy, help people learn new skills and provide better access to services and information.

[ClickPress, Wed Apr 05 2006] Sift is supporting Bristol City Council's bid to be crowned the UK's top digital city in the government's 'Digital Challenge' - and win up to £7 million to use new technology to boost the city's economy, help people learn new skills and provide better access to services and information.

Sift joins other Bristol businesses, the media, community organisations, public bodies and the Council to develop a winning bid for Bristol.

Councillor Barbara Janke, Leader of the Council, says:

"I see this Digital Challenge as an exciting opportunity to boost the local economy and regenerate areas of the city by giving people in disadvantaged communities a chance to access and use the technology and share in the benefits it can bring."

The city will submit its initial proposals to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) by April 28th 2006. Following regional judging, a winner will be announced in June 2006 and given a cash award of £120,000 plus 'help in kind' from the commercial sector worth up to £80,000, to enable them to develop the ideas further.

A fuller proposal for the national 'Digital Challenge' will need to be submitted by December 2006 with the national winner announced in January 2007. The overall winner will receive funding totaling at least £3 million from Department of Health, Department for Education and Skills, ODPM and Department of Trade and Industry. And, this amount will be more than matched by the private sector through cash or discounted goods and services.

Ben Heald, CEO of Sift, adds:

"It’s great that the government is giving local authorities the chance to use technology to improve the quality of life for their citizens. Sift is proud of its Bristol roots, and the opportunity to support Bristol City Council's bid to become a recognised digital city is something we could never have let pass us by."

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For further information, please contact:

Darren Falkingham
Marketing Manager
darren.falkingham@sift.com
Sift, 100 Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6HZ, United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0) 117 915 9609

EDITOR’S NOTES
Sift provides online engagement solutions to clients in the publishing, public and not-for-profit sectors. Supported by the Sift Seminar Series, we help to keep our clients at the forefront of the latest online engagement techniques.

Sift’s clients include Centaur Holdings, Institute of Physics Publishing, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, British Mensa Ltd, The Kennel Club, British Council, The Countryside Agency, European Commission, NHS, Scottish Executive, Bristol City Council, Northumberland County Council and York City Council.

Sift is a successful company recently recognised by Deloitte & Touche, the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 and New Media Age as one the fastest growing companies in the UK.

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