The Morning After the Announcement
March 14, 2007 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Digital Challenge , trackbackYesterday Angela Smith MP kept us on our toes for as long as possible before announcing Sunderland City Council as winner of the Digital Challenge. Congratulations to the Sunderland team, they seem like a very nice lot. I look forward to working with them and with the other regional winners.
Of course, ‘we’ (the Connecting Bristol team) feel hugely disappointed that Bristol didn’t win. Everyone has worked extremely hard for a very long time. However, now that this stage of proceedings is out of the way, we can regroup, refocus and get on with the real business of delivering a Digital Strategy for Bristol.
The £2 million ‘runners up fund’ was an unexpected bonus. The Minister stressed that this investment is a sign of the faith Government has in delivering all ten bids.
The way I see things this morning is that although Bristol didn’t scoop the big cash prize, the city is still holding a winning hand. Bristol has the energy, creativity, invention and excellence that is needed to bring about real and lasting transformation – its is all still here, more people than ever recognise this and there is no stopping the momentum now…
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[…] Birmingham's joint bid with Shropshire still comes away with some recognition. £2 million (an 'unexpected bonus' according to Stephen Hilton of the highly energetic Bristol bid) is being made available to a grouping of the 10 finalists in the digital challenge, mainly to allow them to spread what they are learning and encourage wider innovation. […]
[…] Update - several posts announcing the announcement, the post-announcement meeting, and the emerging discussion on what to do next. Posted by John Filed in Digital Challenge, Personal […]
[…] Bristol, of course, recently lost out on £2m of funding in the government's Digital Challenge to Sunderland. Perhaps the fact they can't run a bulletin board has something to do with it? […]