Peter Ashcroft, a 35-year-old commercial litigator with law firm Ward Hadaway, has been seconded to the regional development agency One NorthEast for the next year, having taken up the position of business liason manager on at the beginning of the month.

Based at the Centre for Life, in Newcastle, his role is to carry the message of the pioneering work and economic benefits of the region's five centres of excellence to companies across the North-East, helping to make ideas commercial and, hopefully, turn them into the products of the future.

Mr Ashcroft said: "My new role has been developed by One NorthEast and the regional CBI.

"The centres of excellence are helping to commercialise the best research and development from the region's universities and are looking for regional companies to help turn this knowledge into commercial benefits.

"My role is to establish active channels of communication between the centres of excellence, universities and the wider business community, identifying business needs and matching them, where appropriate, with the centres and universities' activities.

"In addition to the start-up of many new companies, one of the simplest ways for this to happen is for existing North-East businesses to actively participate in the development and roll-out of new products on the back of the region's research."

Newcastle's Ward Hadaway chose Mr Ashcroft, a father of three young children, for the post after it was approached by the CBI and One NorthEast's Strategy for Success Team.

He is a member of Ward Hadaway's technology team, focusing on intellectual property and information technology and is primarily involved in dispute resolution between companies.

Originally from Formby, in the North-West, Mr Ashcroft is a Batchelor of Science in pure and applied biology from the University of Leeds, from where he graduated in 1989.

Following a year with US paper company Scott Limited, he joined Pfizer, the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world, where he worked in a sales and marketing role.

While he was working for Pfizer, Mr Ashcroft worked towards his legal qualifications in his spare time.

Following a year out, he moved to the North-East in 1993, joining Ward Hadaway five years ago.

Welcoming Mr Ashcroft to his new position, Steve Rankin, regional director for the CBI in the North-East, said: "The success of the five centres of excellence will depend very much on how far they will help meet the needs and aspirations of North-East business.

"Peter will have a key role in making sure that the centres know what these are and his strong business background makes him ideally suited for the task."

Chris Pywell, head of One NorthEast's Strategy for Success Team, said: "We are delighted to be developing an enhanced relationship with the CBI and Peter is the ideal person to be taking this forward.

"Greater linkages between business, universities and the centres of excellence are key to the successful development of the North-East's new economy."

Ward Hadaway managing partner Jamie Martin said: "We are pleased to be able to assist the development of the Regional Economic Strategy by seconding Peter to One NorthEast to act as liason between the CBI and centres of excellence.

"His science background and legal experience will make him ideally suited for this important role."

Mr Ashcroft said: "My new role is a very broad one, pulling together all the different expertise from the five centres of excellence, and matching that to the expertise within our universities and the wider business community.

"It is a tremendous challenge, but one which I relish, taking part in the transformation of the region's economy.

"I will regard my secondment as successful if I leave after a year knowing that effective lines of communication have been opened between the centres of excellence, universities and wider business community, and that they remain open."