Paper-thin computer screens, wallpaper that changes at the touch of a button, and a fuel source with zero emissions. Sounds like science fiction? It's all being developed at the Centre for Process Innovation on Teesside. Business Editor Julia Breen reports.

WHEN aeroplanes are being designed, the engineers' headache is always the windows. Without the purely aesthetic function of windows, aircraft would be much cheaper and easier to manufacture and design.

Virgin is said to be looking at how it could have a windowless aeroplane in its fleet -without passengers grumbling about the lack of view.

The international airline could use technology being developed from a small facility in Teesside to do it.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is one of regional development agency One NorthEast's centres of excellence, which have been given the task of developing new technology to lift the region's fortunes.

The process industry is the major wealth creator in the North-East by a long way - with an annual GDP of more than £7bn. About 34,000 people in the region are employed in the process industries, and the jobs of ten times that number are indirectly supported by the chemicals and pharmaceuticals - or process - industries.

CPI's role is to work with process companies in the region, helping to develop innovative technology and processes.

One of CPI's real science-fiction projects is developing computer screens that can be rolled up - and made for almost one millionth of the cost of a traditional computer screen.

The clear, lightweight roll-up screens will eventually replace glass computer screens.

Dr Tom Taylor, director of functional materials at CPI, said: "It is basically a roll of film that we can print electronics on to.

"One of the things it could be used for is for 'e-books' - where you have something that looks like a book, but it is empty, and you can download things on to it from the Internet.

"But the possibilities are limitless - the market for this is in the trillions. If you can imagine that the computer screen in front of you in the office costs just 10p to make, you can start thinking about what other things you can do with it.

"We could solve the airlines' problems by putting screens where the windows would normally be. I know some of them are looking at this technology at the moment. You could have a moving picture of a window on the screens, creating the illusion it is a real window."

Dr Taylor says that e-paper is just two years away from the market - but he says the initial offerings will be limited to black and white.

Once the technology is more developed, however, he believes that e-paper can work just like the Internet. Harry Potter fans may be interested to know that photographs where people can move, or newspapers with moving pictures on the front, may not be limited to the wizarding world for much longer.

Another potential market is for wallpaper, where the film can be pasted on to the walls of a house, and the colour or pattern could be changed at the touch of a button.

But Dr Taylor admits: "We need to make the technology 1,000 times better before we see things like that."

CPI recently signed a deal with chemical company DuPont Teijin Films to develop the futuristic technology.

It is building a £2m "cleanroom" at CPI to develop the products in paper-thin, flexible computer and television screens. The technology can also be applied to solar panels and electronic smart tags.

The facility will be instrumental in developing a manufacturing and supply chain for the region - and will also be available for other North-East companies to use.

About 30 people now work at CPI, with numbers expected to rise steadily over the coming years.

Other areas of research include hydrogen powered fuel cell technology, and bio-processing.

Chief executive Nigel Perry said: "We have a top-class team of people now, with most people first if not second degree educated.

"We have to have the very best because we are competing on an international stage.

"This isn't just about sitting in the region and using the region's resources; it is a centre of excellence internationally, which has to be on a par with the world's best.

"We are basically trying to turn money into science, and then turn it back into money again. Increasingly the cost of doing this is ballooning so we have to get companies to work together, with us, and reduce the costs and risks associated with innovation.

"If you take a research dollar, you need about 50 research dollars to turn it back into one dollar of profit, so it makes sense that companies spread the costs."

CPI is driving the growth of a fuel cell industry in the North-East, and hydrogen, one of the main products used in fuel cells, is a by-product of two of the Tees Valley's major chemical plants.

A fuel cell is a device that produces electricity and heat, and using hydrogen as a fuel means there are no by-products apart from water.

CPI has the UK's only facilities dedicated to using fuel cells in practical applications. Over the next ten years, the cells are likely to power everything from mobile phones and laptops to homes, office and cars.

Mr Perry said: "The UK is in an energy crisis today. Hydrogen fuel cells are part of the answer but it needs to be handled properly.

"Hydrogen comes off some of the area's plants as a byproduct, so people in the Tees Valley are used to working with it.

"But there has been untold enthusiasm for this lately. The driving force is that the crisis that spawns innovation is upon us - oil prices are sky-high and we are in the middle of an energy crisis."

The UK has the potential of having ten to 15 per cent of the multi-billion pound world fuel cell market in manufacturing. And the North-East is likely to pull in much of that work, with a fuel cell "cluster" of companies planned for Teesside.

There are now five working fuel cells in the UK, four of which are road signs powered by fuel cells on Teesside, without the need for power cables.

CPI is also creating a hub for industrial bio-processing in the region.

Bio-processing is seen as the new sustainable way to manufacture everyday chemical products, such as fabrics and cosmetics. The market is huge because by 2010, one in five chemicals produced in the UK will be bio-based.

Mr Perry said CPI expects to employ 50 people by next year, and in ten years' time he hopes it will be a company with a £30m income, with 125 graduate workers, and £20m being spent every year on new projects.

"When we have achieved that, we will have a world-class innovation facility. The idea is to have created a further £1bn of new GDP in ten years.

"So every job that CPI creates, five are created in the supply chain. And for every pound we spend, something of the order of £30 is spent by the industry."