How to keep up with the Browns

The Northwest is the United Kingdom's 'academopolis', boasting the highest concentration of students in Europe. Harriet Swain and Alison Utley look at how institutions are working to give the region's economy a boost.

It is the year 2001 and Salford banker Mr Brown is having a business breakfast. He is meeting a team from a local enterprise and if all goes well, he will gain important custom.

But Mr Brown is sitting at home with a bowl of Shreddies. It is a "virtual" meeting, taking place over the cable network as part of a project now being pioneered by Salford University and the north-west cable company Nynex Cablecomms.

The Pounds 10 million Gemisis 2000 scheme was launched in December 1995 with Pounds 4.1 million of European money. It aims to develop a "civic model" for the information superhighway, and promote use of the cable network to take a key role in the regeneration of the area.

Five teams with local representatives from the relevant fields are looking at ways of applying cable in education, business, crime prevention, health and the community.

Researchers on each team will assess the viability of the ideas and the best way to apply them. One of the first projects to take off is the virtual Chamber of Commerce, which will one day organise Mr Brown's business breakfast.

Other schemes are in the pipeline. As he closes the deal, Mr Brown will be able to glance up from time to time to another screen, to check that no intruders have appeared on the closed-circuit television monitoring his premises.

In the kitchen, his wife could attend a video seminar as a mature student at Salford University, while upstairs his daughter might be practising for her French GCSE by chatting with a class of university language students.

On the other side of town, Granny Brown will be able to link up with the local police station to check whether the man recently arrived to read the meter really is from the gas company.

Sarah O'Donnell, Gemisis 2000 project coordinator, said: "It is going to bring the university closer to its client base. We are training people for local industries and we need to be in touch with what they require. We are also trying to take the university out into the community."