Venture capitalists from across the country will be attending the Secure Futures Investment Conference, where they will see pitches from North East businesses which are producing answers to some of Britain's most pressing security problems.

Connect North East, which is organising the security-themed conference on April 28, is urging companies to sign up and pitch for between £250,000 and £1million of funding each.

Nine firms will then be selected to go before the investors on the day.
To make sure businesses are pitch perfect, the network has organised a series of workshops ahead of the conference, with the first on February 26 at the Newcastle offices of one of Connect North East's partners, NorthStar Equity Investors.

Connect North East's Caroline Theobald said: "The conference is an opportunity to attract serious amounts of money to fund the exciting innovations that are taking place in the North East – and to ensure that they remain in the region.

"We're throwing the gauntlet down to companies to step forward and pitch before a series of venture capitalists and investors and we've arranged a series of workshops to help them.

"There may be a recession but there is always the money around to invest in bright ideas. This is the region's chance to show how innovative we can be."

The conference, to be held at the Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield, will also be a major networking event and companies will be able to meet potential customers within Government, the security industry and many private sector organisations.

For more information on the Secure Futures Investment Conference event and to sign up as a pitcher, log on to www.connect northeast.com