THE future of Tees Valley depends on producing the entrepreneurs needed to move away from a culture of dependency on a few well-established businesses.

That was the message from Alistair Arkley, chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership, when he spoke at the opening of Teesside University's Business School last night.

He was joined at the ceremony by Lord Leon Brittan QC, former European Union Commissioner and Chancellor of the university, who gave the inaugural annual lecture on Europe, the Euro and the UK's relationship with the EU.

Opening the business school, Mr Arkley stressed its importance to the Tees Valley.

He said the school, which will be led by five professors, would play a key role in delivering the blueprint for the future of the area set out in the partnership's Tees Valley Vision.

Mr Arkley, said: "By the close of this present decade, the communities of the Tees Valley will have built the foundations of a modern, competitive, diversified and knowledge-based economy.

"Digital technologies and multi-media industries in Middlesbrough, leading-edge research at the Wilton Centre, and innovative environmental engineering and biomedical firms on the research campus of the North Bank will sit aside a revitalised and high technology chemical cluster astride the Tees estuary."

He warned that it would be a long haul, but that with commitment, enthusiasm and appropriate support, the vision for the Tees Valley would become a reality.

The partnership chairman also underlined that there had to be a commitment to a "Made in the Tees Valley" solution to the economic, social and environmental challenges facing the area. He predicted the area would become one of the best places to live and work in the UK.

Mr Arkley described the region's universities as the "economic powerhouses of the future".

He said university business schools would provide international expertise and, through links with further education colleges, would reach out into local communities, helping to make the cultural changes needed in the area, where self-employment was now seen as a real option for many more people.

Guests to the opening, which culminated with the unveiling of a plaque by Mr Arkley and Lord Brittan, were welcomed by business studies graduate Suzannah Clarke, who has set up her own business as an opera singer.

Suzannah, who graduated from the university in 1992 with an honours degree in Business Studies, made a surprise appearance in full ball- gown.

The passionate Middlesbrough Football Club supporter, trained in Italy with Pavarotti's singing teacher, Arrigo Pola, after studying at the Royal College of Music.

In September, she sang at the England versus Albania World Cup qualifier at Newcastle's St James' Park.