The government is to invest £30 million into technology firms across the country which are looking to expand, according to business secretary Peter Mandelson.

As part of the Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF) programme, the money will be used in the development of IT and electronics organisations, alongside those involved in the instrumentation of technology.

Lord Mandelson said that it is necessary for both small and medium-sized enterprises to have access to funds in order to develop, with ECFs aimed at this demographic in business.

The business secretary continued: "Enterprise Capital Funds provide an important source of capital for SMEs looking for equity investment, and this latest fund further demonstrates government's commitment to support business through these difficult economic conditions."

Investing in IT and clean technology organisations around the UK, TTP Ventures, will be helping the government to manage the fund.

TTP Ventures is one of the leading independent technology development and licensing firms in the country, with a great amount of knowledge on spin-out companies.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.