THE North-East needs to become the cradle of the new knowledge-based economy, delegates were told at a business event yesterday.

The region's Euro MP Stephen Hughes told delegates at Intertech 2003, which began yesterday and ends today, that the region was proud of being the cradle of the industrial revolution, but that the days of ship building and coal mining were gone.

Durham County Council leader Ken Manton said: "People in the North-East have got to realise that we have got to move away from metal bashing as the basis of our economic growth.

"We have to move on to the next generation and phase of industrial development.

"Technology and value-added products must be at the heart of what we are trying to achieve."

Hundreds of delegates from 20 nations are attending Intertech, a business partnering event for technology-based organisations.

Major players in technology are visiting the region to find business partners.

Organiser the County Durham Development Company (CDDC) has attracted delegates from the US, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Hungary, Russia, China and Australia, all of which have shown interest in the region by attending the conference.

Stewart Watkins, of CDDC, said: "The purpose is to establish international contacts, in order that businesses from this region can find business opportunities in other areas.

"We also want to bring knowledge and expertise from other areas into this one.

"We are gaining the reputation as a centre for technology-based industries and all of this is contributing towards the development of a knowledge-driven economy.

"The purpose of this style of event is that we have almost 1,000 business-to-business meetings set up already. People have asked specifically to see the other person, the other person has accepted, and that meeting is in the knowledge that they might well get something out of it.

"It is not merely networking, it is for the specific purpose of meeting a potential business partner."

Durham County Council was also promoting its Netpark site at Sedgefield, which it hopes will attract companies to the region and carry out university research.

The first phase of development - the Netpark Research Institute - is under way and will initially provide 17,000sq ft of space.

Coun Manton said: "We want to put Netpark on to a European and world stage.