Enterprise development agency Project North-East called for closer ties between business and education at its annual lecture in Newcastle Civic Centre last night.

David Irwin, chief executive of the Small Business Service, and David Grayson, a director of Business in the Community, used the agency's 21st anniversary lecture, sponsored by NatWest, to argue that entrepreneurship will become more important to the success and sustainability of the UK and world economies.

Mr Irwin said: "There is evidence that economies with more entrepreneurial activity grow faster, and create more wealth."

He called for the World Trade Organisation to adopt a "think small business" approach, and to remove trade barriers for small firms as a way of achieving more equitable globalisation.

Outlining the importance of entrepreneurs and small businesses, Mr Irwin said there were 3.7m businesses in the UK and only 7,000 employed more than 250 people.

Mr Grayson predicted a number of trends, including more people running businesses as well as being employed, and more businesses started by older retired people.

He defined entrepreneurship as "the ability to spot opportunities, secure resources and take calculated risks."

He called for more enterprise in classrooms, starting in primary schools, along with the teaching of business skills, and the opportunity for pupils to experience running a business for themselves.

PNE was established in 1980. Since then it has helped more than 4,000 people to start or expand their businesses, creating more than 9,000 jobs.

It has lent more than £2m to 500 businesses to aid their expansion plans, securing another £5.9m from other funding sources.

It has successfully converted more than 100,000sq ft of redundant buildings into workspace for 107 business employing 650 staff.

Reflecting on more than 40 years of practical experience as leaders in enterprise development between them, h