A business incubation centre which provides a home for more than 40 start-up firms in the biotech, information technology, media and engineering sectors is expanding.

Eight years after the Sussex Innovation Centre opened at the University of Sussex's Falmer campus, managers there are planning to launch a second centre near Crawley.

The expansion is part of wider proposals to develop a new University of Sussex campus within the so-called Gatwick Diamond region.

The centre will offer a full incubation service but with a stronger focus on product development, entrepreneurship and innovation.

It will cover about 40,000sqft and will have its own staff overseen by centre executive director Mike Herd.

Mr Herd hopes the new centre's proximity to Gatwick will help it develop more links overseas, to build on recent collaboration with the Ningbo innovation centre in China.

He said: "There will be opportunities to develop a more extensive science park that will cater for companies who want to maintain close long-term relationships with the university and the centre. This will be particularly attractive for our international clients.

"Our international incubation model, which is based on forming joint venture partnerships between UK companies and their overseas counterparts, works in two positive ways.

"It provides opportunities to develop early overseas marketing and distribution deals for UK developed intellectual property and encourages inward investment to the UK.

"Firms based at the centre will be able to draw on the university's research facilities, which will be of particular interest to the bio-technology and pharmaceutical sector."

The Gatwick Diamond is the new brand name given to the region encompassing Horsham, Crawley, Mid Sussex and East Surrey.

The launch of the diamond is the first stage in a ten-year economic action plan to see the area become internationally recognised as a first-class business location.

Tony Moore, the university's deputy vice-chancellor, said: "Our vision for the new campus is based on a mix of world-class science, technology and business and the second innovation centre will be a vital element of this."