AN organisation nurturing next generation healthcare is continuing to grow as it benefits from the North-East’s rising reputation, its boss has told The Northern Echo.

Nigel Perry says the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) feels “pretty good” about the region after laying the foundations for fresh expansion.

The body last week broke ground on the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics, which will open next year and sit alongside a sister National Formulation Centre.

Based at Netpark, in Sedgefield, County Durham, officials say it will provide open access facilities for firms and universities to develop light-based technology to diagnose and monitor acute and chronic conditions.

Backed by £8.3m support from the Local Growth Fund, through the North-East Local Enterprise Partnership, the centre will help scale-up remedies for ailments such as cancer and brain injuries, and whether a skin burn can heal naturally or requires grafting.

Mr Perry, CPI chief executive, told the Echo that the organisation, which has further sites across County Durham and Teesside, is delighted with its progress.

He said: “We started 14 years ago with one person and (the current size of the organisation) is testament to the trust that people are putting into the North-East.

“We are succeeding because of the can-do attitude in the North- East and the aptitude to accept change and move on.

“We regularly bring people up from London, Oxford and Cambridge, who comment at just how connected the region is.

“We feel pretty good about the North-East.”

The photonics centre represents another sign of CPI’s commitment to the North-East, having previously invested in bases at Net- Park, Darlington and the Wilton Centre, near Redcar.

Contractors last year began work on the NetPark-based National Formulation Centre, which aims to support companies’ efforts to increase innovation across areas such as medicines, cosmetics and detergents.

The organisation is also ramping up work at its £38m Darlingtonbased National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, which provides firms with technical backing to research and develop potentially life-saving cures and vaccines, including cancer treatments and therapies for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

At the Wilton Centre, the body has spent money on new equipment to strengthen industrial biotechnology and biorefinery facilities, and last week revealed a new seven-year lease to continue using offices, laboratories and pilot plant space.

Referring to CPI’s photonics venture, Phil Wilson, MP for Sedgefield, said the commitment was a further vote of confidence in Net- Park and the wider commercial environment.

He added: “This is another excellent addition to NetPark.

“We are now into the fourth industrial revolution and it is great that Sedgefield is part of that.