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The south-west of England is becoming a magnet for high-technology companies, thanks to technological expertise provided by the local universities, says Caroline Bull, director of innovation and enterprise at the region's development agency.

Collaborative work between the University of Bristol, the BBC Natural History Unit and Aardman Animations, creators of Wallace and Gromit, has been shown to Japanese high-tech firms as part of a recent government-sponsored conference on digital broadcasting.

The Japanese delegation were also briefed on local research into wearable computing, multimedia archiving, video over the internet and innovative use of 3D graphics.

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