A company which won an award last year has invested the winnings in its export drive.

Millenniumpore, of Sunderland, invented a hand-operated pump filter which purifies and disinfects polluted water - an invaluable tool in developing countries.

The firm, of Sunderland Enterprise Park, won the small company award, and £1,100 cash, in last year's Spirit of Innovation contest. Millenniumpore spent the prize-money on developing and manufacturing its product for parts of Asia, Africa and South America, where water supply is limited or unregulated.

The pumps are fitted with a membrane - a permeable material with microscopic pores, which acts as an ultrafine sieve to purify and disinfect water by excluding bacteria and viruses.

Peter Wilkes, director, said: "After a two-year period of research and development the first units were installed in villages in the Amasaman district of Ghana in 1999.

"Following our involvement in the Spirit of Innovation Awards last year we have stepped-up our manufacturing programme and the system is now being installed in developing communities in Vietnam, Malaysia and Borneo."

As well as aqua pumps, Millenniumpore's filter concept has also been used in other applications to separate and extract liquids in the printing, recycling, food and health industries.

* Entry forms for this year's competition are available from Victoria Walton on 0191-516 6045.