Young, growing businesses and start-ups in Sussex are to benefit from a new support system.

Proposals for a network of Enterprise Hubs in urban and rural locations were announced at the South East England Development Agency conference, which was attended the region's business leaders and local authorities.

Under the proposals, a network of 25 to 30 hubs will:

l Provide an effective local support network for successful, innovative and far-sighted entrepreneurs;

l Give entrepreneurs more influence in their local communities and create a business environment in which they can thrive and prosper;

l Drive innovation and enterprise, and stimulate the growth of small businesses;

l Develop local 'clusters' of businesses in specific industry sectors.

The first six hub schemes to be funded by Seeda will be announced in April, and a rolling programme of hubs creation will be introduced over the next three to five years.

Locations of the pilot projects have yet to be finalised. However, among sites earmarked for future development as Enterprise Hubs are Crawley/Gatwick and Chichester.

Heading up the Crawley/Gatwick scheme is John Peel, managing director of Varian Medical Systems, a manufacturer of radiotherapy equipment. The scheme is also supported by BAA Gatwick Airport.

Barrie Giles, Seeda's director of Enterprise Development, said: "Enterprise Hubes will make a real difference to business development in the region. And to turn theory into reality we need to involve as wide a range of businesses and community organisations as possible.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.