£7.4m for Hackney's digital inclusion drive

An innovative £7.4million collaboration to help ensure Hackney residents of all backgrounds benefit from the borough’s thriving local technology, science and digital sectors has launched.

The four-year LIFT (Leading Inclusive Futures through Technology) project is the first in the country to focus on the ‘knowledge economy’ – helping to ensure local residents are skilled-up and ready to launch careers or start-ups in sectors which have not only weathered the Covid-19 storm but often flourished in it.

LIFT is a partnership involving Hackney, Islington, Camden and Tower Hamlets councils alongside grass-roots entrepreneurship experts Capital Enterprise, and will complement the Council’s own efforts to ensure those most affected economically by the pandemic are prioritised in the recovery.

The project will help address the stark underrepresentation of some communities in these sectors, including women, those with disabilities, lone parents and people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds – part of the Council’s commitments to rebuilding a fairer economy out of the pandemic and ensuring everyone can benefit from Hackney’s economic growth. 

It will offer programmes to give participants the skills and tools they need to succeed in the industry or start their own tech business, seek out employment and training opportunities from leading digital and tech firms, and secure new affordable workspace in tech hubs such as Old Street’s Silicon Roundabout.

The LIFT partnership will help deliver on the Council’s commitments to rebuild a fairer economy where everyone can benefit from Hackney’s economic growth and residents have meaningful, quality paid employment opportunities. Earlier this month the Council announced that hundreds of young people hit hard economically by the pandemic will be offered work placements after Hackney Council was approved by the government to act as a ‘gateway’ organisation for the Kickstart scheme.