A new chapter begins; The region's science and technology sector promises to transform the face of North East exports in the future, as Andrew Mernin finds out.

THE decision to shift production of Newcastle Brown Ale out of its Geordie heartland, has left a region to mourn the passing of one of its most famous exports.

When the brown stuff moves to its new Tadcaster home, it will take up its place in the history books alongside ships which conquered the world and coal that fuelled the industrial revolution as once great North East exports.

The move is certainly a major blow to the region and its proud tradition and it will no doubt be contested until the day the pipes run dry in Gateshead.

However, the North East has little time to lament the end of an exporting era, as it may be on the verge of welcoming in a new age of exports which could well reach the heights of the famous blue star.

The region's science and technology sector has never been in better shape and, undeterred by the recession, continues to lead the world on key areas of research and development.

Here we look at some businesses which may have found the formula to spawn the major North East exports of the future.

MEDICAL HELP GOES ONLINE SOFTWARE developed in the region will give patients in the poorest and most remote parts of the world instant help from medical experts.

For patients here in the UK, a visit to the GP can often lead to a referral to a specialist who is usually available within months, if not weeks, at a nearby hospital.

But in Rwanda, for example, if your doctor advised you to take an X-ray, you may face a trek over several hundreds of miles and a lengthy wait when you get there since there are only two radiologists to serve eight million people. Similarly, in Tanzania, there is a shortage of cancer specialists and - for those who have been diagnosed with the disease whose time is particularly precious - day after day can be wasted as they wait for various medical parties to exchange test results or other information. Fortunately, thanks to software developed at Sunderland Software City, the problem can now be alleviated through an online portal which puts the world's top medical specialists in direct contact with the GP surgeries which need them most. Wearside IT firm Heridian, which is still in its first year of operation, has already gained global recognition for its i-Med Portal which gives medical professionals in remote areas access to advice and opinion in any number of medical fields.

The technology taps into the increasingly popular telemedicine, which has digitalised many of the diagnosis techniques used in the medical world, allowing for global communication to take place in an instant. Heridian will allow doctors to download its software for free and then charge a small fee for each contact made to an expert listed on its online portal, in the same way a mobile phone bill is charged per usage.

The system is currently being trialled by two parties in South Africa while sales agreements have also been set up in Ethiopia, Jamaica, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Eastern Europe.

DIAMOND OF AN IDEA FOR REVOLUTIONARY MICROCHIPS THE work of a university spin-out on Tyneside could turn Newcastle into a global hub from which revolutionary microchip technology is exported.

Newcastle University-owned INEX has established itself as a global pioneer in the development of special microchips - made with diamonds instead of silicon, which can withstand greater extremes of tempera ture. As the company's reputation has grown in the field, it has received the backing of a number of major players and is now part of an international consortium which includes commercial entities and universities. The consortium has won pounds 3.2m in financial backing from the Government's Technology Strategy Board and commercial partners - a significant portion of which will pay for the ongoing development of the microchips on Tyneside. INEX is also entering an 18-month trial period with MBDA, a pounds 2.3bn-a-year manufacturer of missiles and missile systems, which, if successful, will lead to a multi-million-pound commercial contra ct. Meanwhile, it is in the running to supply millions of key components to an international project to build the world's most powerful telescope.

An international consortium is aiming to unlock the secrets of the universe by building a giant radio telescope which is 50 times more sensitive than any existing telescope and will stretch over a square kilometre. And the pounds 1.15bn Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, which will be built in either South Africa or Western Australia, could use parts made in Newcastle.

INEX is in the running for a contract to install 50 million special 'low noise amplifiers' into the ambitious project to help make it more sensitive to radio waves from outer space.

CAPTION(S):

GLOBAL AID Rwandans could benefit from software developed in Sunderland. EXCITING Petec director Tom Taylor which is expected to create 250 jobs in the North East by 2013.