FOUR of the region's forward-thinking companies are updating their technical and business skills after receiving training awards from The Royal Academy of Engineering.

Degussa Fine Chemicals, of Middlesbrough, Energy Solutions International, of Stockton, SEtech, of North Shields, and Victor Products, of Newcastle have all won Engineering Professional Development Awards from the academy this year.

Collectively, they were awarded £23,000 for their achievements.

Forty awards were made to companies across the UK, totalling £195,000.

The academy is now inviting applications for awards to cover training needs in 2003/2004 - the closing date for applications is October 24, and further details are available from Ian Bowbrick on 020 7227 0504.

Degussa Fine Chemicals, Fine Organics is part of the Laporte Group, which is a major UK-based international speciality chemicals company.

The group's objective is to be recognised as the world's leader in fine chemicals driven by technology.

The £10,000 award will go towards the cost of training and development programmes for 28 engineering and operations staff.

The training courses include BSc engineering, electrical engineering, project management and interpersonal skill training.

Energy Solutions International is one of the world's leading suppliers of pipeline and business management software.

The company hopes to achieve significant revenue and profit growth through a number of goals; including the training and retention of the best staff, continuous professional development and employee enrichment.

Forty three engineers will use the £5,000 award towards training in areas of application software development, business systems and oil and pipeline engineering.

SEtech provides geo-technical consultancy services to a wide range of clients in the international offshore industries.

The company provides input into the planning, design and installation of submarine cables, pipelines and foundations.

SEtech will use the £5,000 towards individual training programmes for five of its employees.

The aim is to broaden the skills and experience of the company while meeting the requirements of each member of staff.

The training programmes range from attending an annual trade and technical conference in the US, information technology training through to studying towards an MBA for engineering business managers.

Victor Products designs and manufactures a range of safety luminaries and lamps to cover application for use in the offshore pharmaceutical industries.

The company plans to use a grant of £3,000 to meet its aim of being the first-choice supplier of electrical products for hazardous and industrial environments.