It was sunny and warm but there wasn't a starlet or a Hollywood mogul in sight when I got to Cannes. In February, there is little evidence of the glitz and glamour of the film festival which brings the town alive in the spring.

Instead, companies with interests ranging from the Internet to interactive television businesses converged on Milia 2001.

Their focus was on exploring key partnerships with consumer content developers, publishers, distributors, retailers, investors and technology companies.

They included the might of the computer games industry, in the form of Microsoft and Electronic Arts (to name just two), as well as universities from all over the world (including Teesside University's Virtual Reality Centre).

I was invited along to sample some of the delights on offer on a two-day press trip organised through Gill Airways and the French Business Council, which was formed in 1994 to help North-East small and medium sized firms break into the French market.

We were part of the North-East delegation of businesses attempting to make new contacts and win new contracts with the thousands of other businesses attending the exhibition.

The North-East was represented with its own stand - Where it's "The idea behind the visit is to raise awareness of what we do at the centre, making new contacts and hopefully winning more work.

"The feedback we have had from firms has been very positive. We have made at least 30 good contacts, it's just a case of firming them up, once we get home to Teesside."

She added: "The fact that we came as part of an official North-East delegation has really helped this time around. The amount of interest there has been in the region is tremendous."

Of particular interest to delegates at this year's event, was the virtual reality plane crash simulation, used to train fire service commanders in dealing with such a catastrophe.

Another North-East firm attracting interest was Sunderland-based Internet development company Leighton, which provides new media and online consultancy solutions, including website design.

James Bunting, from the firm, said: "We have developed some large-scale project development tools that have been popular at this event.

"We are looking for people to team up with to help us develop the tools, and this event has hopefully provided us with some good contacts.

"The other visitors to Milia have certainly been interested in establishing contacts with our business."

Milia 2002 is already being planned, and judging by the success of the North-East at this year's event, the region will be back in strength at the next get-together.