REGIONAL regeneration chiefs will today announce a multi-million pound cash boost for the region's economy.

One NorthEast will be investing £9.8m into the programme - dubbed Accelerate North East - in the next five years.

This investment, together with £1.8m provided by the Learning and Skills Council is expected to lever in a further £13m from the private sector.

The North-East Productivity Alliance (Nepa) is a group of some of the region's most prominent industrial and public sector agencies, formed to boost manufacturing performance through a variety of projects. These include assistance with recruitment, developing manufacturing techniques and sharing best practice.

John Cushnaghan, chairman of Nepa and managing director of Nissan UK, said: "We must improve productivity if manufacturing industry is going to prosper in this region. These Accelerate North-East projects, and others that will follow, will be a great help to this process."

Projects to benefit from the funding include:

* £1.8m to further workforce development within manufacturing companies;

* £2m to develop digital factories. This project will enable North-East manufacturing to fast-track the process of design through to manufacture, cutting it from about three years to 18 months;

* £4.1m to spread the message of manufacturing "best practice". The project will take the technology and culture of some of the region's most successful manufacturers and make sure it filters down to the supply chain to achieve improvements in productivity;

* £2.7m to train senior manufacturing managers.

John Bridge, chairman of One NorthEast, said: "We are all too aware that our manufacturing industry faces stiff challenges. These projects will help meet those challenges and give our companies the best chance to prosper."

Jonathan Blackie, director of the Government Office for the North-East, said it was a very welcome initiative.

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