HOW do you get hold of money from the European Union?

At a time when businesses are scrabbling around for funding domestically, a little help from the EU could go a long way.

And Newcastle Science City is hoping to give firms a nudge in the right direction with its Accessing European Funding Workshop on Monday, October 17.

The workshop will provide an insight into funding available, which could be of use to businesses, public authorities and research groups.

Science City is one of the partners in the Enterprise Europe Network, which also features the Centre for Process Innovation and Teesside University.

Science City programme manager Simon Green said: “Because of the large number of funding streams that used to be available to North East companies, EU funding was often overlooked. With the recent cuts to business support by the UK government, however, we now need to promote all opportunities for business support and EU funding is one of the avenues that remain.”

The workshop will also feature one-to-one sessions with businesses, and is being held at Muckle LLP’s Gallowgate offices from 8.30am.

Visit www.newcastlesciencecity.com/events/556 or call 0191 211 3024 for more details.

Enterprise Europe Network project manager Stuart Jackson said: “EU funding is often utilised for investment-heavy research activity, but we want to show that it can also be used in skills development, community engagement and prototype testing.

"Through EEN we will also be able to help, for example, a solar power company that wants to identify potential public sector bodies from across the EU committed to the technology.

"The seminar and the programme will open up new opportunities for businesses to discover what’s on offer and, more importantly, how best to utilise it.”