A NORTH-East university has won a contract for a £95,000 flagship scheme to improve businesses in the region.
Douglas Alexander, a Department of Trade and Industry Minister, has announced that Durham University's Barclays Centre for Entrepreneurship will lead the pilot scheme in the North-East.
The programme, which aims to improve the competitiveness and social enterprise in the region, starts this month. It will give 40 projects the skills and capacity needed to improve productivity.
Dr David Johnson, director of the Barclays Centre, said: "In a rapidly changing world, it is natural that an entrepreneurship centre is actively working with social enterprises, as well as more traditional commercial enterprises."
The chairman of regional development agency One NorthEast, Dr John Bridge, said: "For the North-East to be used as a pilot for this important national initiative underlines both the capacity of the area and the confidence others have in our ability to support such projects."
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