A £100m project to establish a centre of excellence in developing new products was announced yesterday.

The Knowledge Campus will occupy a 51-acre site overlooking the Tyne, at Gateshead.

It will bring together companies at the cutting edge of the product development and testing industry, with tenants carrying out research for industrial engineers, toolmakers, lawyers, patent agents and marketing firms.

Knowledge Campus chairman Chris Thompson said: "New product development is the single-most important competitive challenge today.

"The benefits to the region will be tremendous. It will create the opportunity for thousands of high quality jobs through generating business opportunities for local companies."