The business group is concerned about the States’ plans to withdraw funding for the facility and has concerns about a lack of alternatives to the financial services sector being promoted by the States.
‘The Chamber is deeply disappointed by the decision to withdraw funding, which in practice closes the Digital Greenhouse at the end of this year,’ it said.
It said that it did not think that a lot of the Economic Development Committee’s work plan could be delivered without the Greenhouse or a similar facility in place.
While finance was vital to the island’s economy, Chamber said that a thriving wider business community sustained the finance sector in the long term.
‘They are not competing interests, they are interdependent. Closing the Digital Greenhouse without a replacement structure does not remove the need it was created to meet – it just removes the means of meeting it. Guernsey businesses still need somewhere to turn for innovation support and diversification. Right now, this decision leaves nowhere.’
Economic Development was spending some £450,000 in supporting the facility, but the decision to close it on financial grounds would be concerning, said Chamber, particularly in light of an additional £1m. the States had given to support Guernsey Finance, which Chamber said took total funding for that organisation up to £3.5m. a year.
And a new senior ‘finance concierge’ role has been created with additional funding, and support from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.
‘We understand the importance of the finance industry to our economy, but the island cannot afford to put all its eggs in what is a shrinking basket.’
It said that a diversified economy leads to a resilient one, but this needed sustained investment across all sectors.
‘The Chamber calls on government to urgently set out how the functions currently delivered by the Digital Greenhouse will be maintained, and to commit to a proper, funded mechanism for supporting the whole of Guernsey’s business community – not just one part of it.’
Economic Development said that it was already in contact, even before the official publication of expressions of interest, with parties taking on some of the roles of the Digital Greenhouse, and meetings were being scheduled over the next few weeks.
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