The regional development committee decided today on the investment in business development checks. The support is intended to give companies the opportunity to take important steps in their development, aiming to strengthen their competitiveness and provide better conditions to adapt to global demands. The efforts involve digitalization and artificial intelligence, green transition, and from next year also internationalization, with goals including increased digital maturity, concretization of AI plans, strengthened sustainability and energy efficiency, and modernization of business models.
Business development checks are aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises in Östergötland that have the conditions to carry out development efforts. They can co-finance up to half of the costs for projects that a company carries out. Region Östergötland will implement the project with business development checks in collaboration with Almi, with the region responsible for project management, processing of applications, and decisions.
Funding through business development checks has previously been an important part of the regional business support and has yielded good results in the county, contributing to development efforts that have led to sustainable growth. It is not yet known how many companies are expected to benefit from the checks or what specific criteria will be used for selection, and the application process opening date remains unspecified. The timeline for implementing the internationalization component starting next year and how the effectiveness of the checks will be measured are still unclear.