A SMALL Stockton business has secured funding to help it develop new technology which could revolutionise the rigging of world-class racing yachts.

Colt Systems of Stockton, where a replica of Captain James Cook's ship, Endeavour, is moored, has found a way of using a fibrous synthetic material called Zylon in rope form.

Zylon is stronger than steel, yet only one-fifth of steel's weight, with a comparable profile and similar stretch characteristics. This gives major advantages in certain weight- sensitive applications, such as the rigging of high-performance sailing vessels.

Until recently, however, it has been virtually impossible to join Zylon rope to other structures in a practical manner but now Colt Systems has come up with a composite terminator which will enable Zylon to be used in a host of situations.

This means an average 60ft yacht could save 100kg on the rigging, allowing a further saving of half a tonne in the counterbalancing weight in the keel.

The performance implications for racing and luxury yachts could be enormous.

The North-East's early stage technology funding company, NStar, is so impressed with Colt System's innovative, patented technology that it has made £60,000 available to the company under the auspices of its pilot Proof of Concept Fund.

Dr Richard Exley, fund manager, said the proposition was very exciting. "Colt Systems has certainly done its homework, and we can see how its new technology could have great commercial potential - initially in the yacht sector, but also in many other areas of structural and civil engineering," he said, "It could even have uses in defence markets.

"Colt needed funding to develop a demonstrator to prove that the design was practical in a variety of applications. Funding is not normally easy to obtain before any revenue is flowing, but this is just the sort of gap our Proof of Concept Fund was set up to address."

Colin Pearce, Colt director who set up the company with a partner just over two years ago specifically to develop the invention, said: "NStar was quick to see the potential of the product and refreshingly straightforward to deal with. This is the break we needed."

NStar, spun out of One NorthEast's strategy for success, aims to create a new climate for technology investment in the region and it wants to hear from interested companies. There is more information on its web site at www.nstarfinance.com.