More than 100 business leaders were meeting today to launch a regional brand which they hope will boost their status overseas.

The Gatwick Diamond, bordered by Brighton and Hove, Horsham, East Grinstead and Redhill in Surrey, was being unveiled at Nutfield Priory.

Delegates at the launch, near Redhill, were due to be given a Gatwick Diamond logo which they could use as a promotional tool for their business.

One of the ideas is to give companies an internationally-recognisable 'postcode' which would benefit those in smaller places like Burgess Hill or Hassocks.

The long-term vision is to create a home-grown pool of skilled workers, attract more high-tech companies and increase the region's productivity.

It is similar in principle, if smaller in scale, to the M4 Corridor which stretches from Chiswick in west London to Cardiff and Swansea in south Wales.

That has become a magnet for leading technology companies and one of the most economically active and prosperous regions in the UK.

It has a highly-skilled workforce which businesses want mirrored in the Gatwick Diamond which, despite the airport, lags behind the south-east in terms of productivity. The Gatwick Diamond was the brainchild of the West Sussex Economic Partnership (WSEP) but is being backed by major employers like BAA and the universities.

One proposal is to open a Sussex University campus closer to Gatwick to focus on vocational courses like engineering and information technology rather than the arts. WSEP chairman Alistair Smith said increasing the skills base within the Diamond was essential if the region was to prosper in the future.

He said: "We want young people to realise they can achieve more than earning a fairly good wage as a baggage handler."

Thursday July 08, 2004