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Global Entrepreneurship Week is now officially well underway in the North East with more than 230 events and activities taking place across the region.

North East people in their thousands are taking part in the week, which is a worldwide entrepreneurial movement across 87 countries that aims to encourage people to unleash their enterprising talents and turn their ideas into reality. Monday saw the launch of the Make your Mark Challenge - a one-day, national enterprise competition for students aged 14 - 19.

This year the Make Your Mark Challenge saw over 4,000 North East students and 70,000 students across the country take part in the initiative.

Some of the events still to run this week include: The Mutual Inspiration event, which will be held on Social Enterprise Day tomorrow at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.

This is a conference to help local organisations work together to create social enterprise, collaboration and sustainability. It is open to anyone from the voluntary, public and private sector who wants to find a more sustainable solution to working together to help drive economic growth now and for the future.

Students from South Shields Community School will also host their own Enterprising Shakespeare shows tomorrow, which will highlight evidence of enterprise during Elizabethan times. Each curriculum area will research and deliver one lesson in Shakespearean style.

On Friday, five middle schools in Northumberland will compete in a Global Enterprise Challenge at Longhirst Hall in Morpeth.

The Young Enterprise North East Global Challenge will involve a total of 56 students from Northumberland learning how countries around the world rely on each other for their resource needs.

Students will be asked to compete against each other in a long-distance menu game, where they will be asked to bring in food from around the world, analyse the packaging and the group whose food on the menu has travelled the furthest will win. The students will also build on their teamwork skills by making giant jigsaws of countries from around the world.

These are just a snapshot of some of the events that are taking place as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009, which supports entrepreneurial people in helping drive economic recovery in communities, towns and regions nationwide.

The week is a platform to encourage aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to think big and go global. Another key focus is using enterprising ideas to tackle society's biggest challenges such as low carbon solutions to climate change.

Enterprise UK head of North East region Louise Kempton said: "The events taking place in the North East during Global Entrepreneurship Week will help inspire people to take control through being entrepreneurial and collectively will have a long term positive impact.

"It's our enterprising people that will help drive economic recovery. Through Global Entrepreneurship Week and the thousands of activities across the UK we aim to connect these fresh-thinkers to like-minded people both at home and abroad."

For more information visit www.gew.org.uk/northeast.

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THINK BIG AND GO GLOBAL Local entrepreneurs Elliot Brook of Deadgood and Zoe Gilbertson of Sneakart launch Global Entrepreneurship Week.