After spending almost four decades in the process industry, Stan Higgins is well qualified to assess the meteoric rise of engineering and chemical companies  across the North-east.

The industry has changed beyond all recognition since he started out in the nuclear sector 38 years ago and is now the beating heart of the region's business community.

The sector represents a quarter of the North-east economy and is set to grow from £9bn to £14bn during the next 10 years.

The North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), which is headed up by Stan, represents almost 500 chemical, speciality, biotech, pharmaceutical and supply chain companies that employ

34,000 people and indirectly support a further 280,000 jobs.

With around £2.5bn of projects underway in the region and a further £4.5bn of work in the pipeline, Stan is looking forward to the future with healthy optimism, despite difficulties caused by the current credit crunch.

Economic Downturn

The chief executive of NEPIC says: "We are still getting requests from major international companies asking: 'can we do business with the North-east?'

We cannot avoid the fact that we are in a severe economic downturn but it hasn't yet filtered through to the process industry.

Most projects are still forging ahead and although we've suffered some job losses, they represent a relatively small part of a much larger, healthier picture.

"Companies in the region are still very optimistic. They are still aiming to recruit a lot of people in the next 5-10 years."

Having set the pace in the delivery of cutting-edge technology, the North-east is considered a world-leading innovator in areas such as renewable energy, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

The industry is a formidable blend of old and new skills - traditional engineering and chemical production combined with hi-tech research and development of  new industries.

But bringing new talent into the industry is key to its future prosperity.

New Recruits

With the region's process sector facing a shortage of 20,000 workers by 2014, Stan believes that finding new recruits and boosting training provision is essential to help local firms capitalise on lucrative business opportunities.

He says: "Each year we work with 450 schools across the NE and give 20,000 school children an insight into science, engineering and industry.

We aim to persuade them to take technical subjects at school and in further education in the region so that they can get the best-paid and most interesting jobs.

"NEPIC is working alongside the region's universities to produce vocational skills that are tailored to the needs of local companies.

The new National Academy for the Process Industries will help in that respect.

"In addition, we are working hard to bring new incubation facilities - including a significant training centre - to Wilton.

There is a lot of will from industry, academics and other public sector organisations to make this happen."

Creation of NEPIC

In 1999, Stan was appointed technical director of Laporte Fine Chemicals and following the sale of Laporte to Degussa, worked for James Robinson Limited to  establish new manufacturing facilities in India and oversee technical projects in the UK and Germany.

In 2003 he set up the Pharmaceutical & Speciality Cluster in the North-east of England and, following its merger with the Teesside Chemical Initiative, led the creation of NEPIC.

Stan also supports the work of NE universities and recently was appointed to the Industrial Advisory Board to the Science Faculty at the University of Teesside.

In addition, he is on the boards of Redcar & Cleveland Local Enterprise Growth Initiative and Renew Tees Valley Limited, an organisation which promotes the area as a UK centre for renewable energy and waste management technologies.

Stan believes the process sector has a major role to play in reducing CO2 emissions and improving Britain's carbon footprint.