In a Budget that promised to support investment in growth and jobs, it is the north west’s emerging high-tech, digital and advanced manufacturing businesses that appear to be the main beneficiaries.

Support from the new UK Finance for Growth funding package targeted at plugging the funding gap for fast-growth SMEs plus the University Enterprise Capital Fund which aims to capitalise on the world leading research of our universities should go some way towards easing crucial access to finance.

Existing tax incentives supporting innovative businesses, such as the R&D tax credit and proposals for a new lower tax rate ‘patent box’ have been retained plus there is good news for our flourishing video gaming industry with the announcement of a new games tax break subject to EU State Aid approval. However, it is disappointing that the finer detail surrounding these potentially attractive new tax reliefs has yet to be fleshed out in any meaningful detail.

Proposals for a £2bn Green Investment Bank targeting clean-tech infrastructure investment are also welcomed although again this proposal is lacking specific detail plus it is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the estimated £400bn infrastructure investment required over the next decade.

In a continued effort to encourage investment in capital assets by businesses, the Annual Investment Allowance will be doubled to £100,000 with effect from April 1, 2010, for companies. This provides 100 per cent writing down allowances against taxable profits in the year of expenditure on qualifying items such as computer equipment, furniture etc - this should cover the majority of annual expenditure for most SME businesses which provides a welcome boost.

A further welcome relief for small businesses will be a temporary business rate holiday for one year from October 2010 for those businesses occupying premises with a rateable up to £6,000.

Overall, the Budget announcement appears to be good news for our fast-growth emerging technology and digital north west businesses.