UK financial services companies are failing to realise the potential to secure funding from the European Information Society Technologies (IST) programme says the Department of Trade and Industry.
The IST Programme, designed to promote industrial competitiveness in Europe, has yet to allocate £700 million to innovative IT projects.
Rosalie Zobel, European Commission director, says the commission would like to see a greater number of large UK financial institutions involved in consensus-building projects such as interoperable payment systems and those with profitability issues.
The DTI has established a Web site and support line to assist with procedures, acronyms and terminology involved in funding applications, in an effort to boost European funding success.
Justin Meadows, managing director of C- International says his company has secured a total of more than £1 million in European support through the IST programme. He says: "With the IST programme, we’ve found that you can propose more speculative ideas and secure funding for projects which are further back down the research and development chain."