BUDDING science entrepreneurs in York and North Yorkshire are to get intensive free advice next week on how to bloom.

Two of the region's top technology networks are combining forces in York to help rookie ventures with big ideas to attract investors.

Connect Yorkshire, the organisation that primes young companies for investment, and Bioscience York, the industry-led technology network which supports innovation and business growth across the region, will jointly host a free workshop at the National Centre For Early Music, off Walmgate, in York, next Tuesday.

Titled Maximising The Value Of Your Life Science Business, the workshop will lead delegates through the processes of valuing a life science business and issues surrounding patents, negotiating with investors and commercialising the end product.

One successful life science businesses which will be presenting at the workshop will be Paraytec, the award-winning University of York spin-off company in St George's Place, Tadcaster Road, whose scientists have developed tiny tools to examine the nature of matter.

Paraytec was formed in 2005 when its founder, Professor David Goodall, transferred his scientific research into a commercial product, ActiPix D100 - a highly accurate miniature ultraviolet light absorbence detector.

The device, whose capillaries the width of a human hair, can "see" and analyse a complex chemical reaction, requires 1,000 times less samples than existing techniques and cuts down time and cost in the search for new, effective drugs.

Having attracted massive investment, including a £20,000 package of support by winning the GSPK New Product Award at this year's Venturefest Yorkshire, Paraytec went on to win the coveted Pittcon 2007 Editor's Choice Silver Award in Chicago in March, trouncing some of the world's giant instrument makers.

Carolyn Parkinson, Paraytec's chief executive, will give a first-hand account of what it is like to negotiate the value of a bioscience business with potential visitors.

Among its financial backers was Viking Fund, whose managing director, Andrew Burton, will also speak at the seminar from an investor's point of view.

Other expert advice will come from David Hobdey, chairman of White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund who will discuss the methods used to value life science businesses and Dr Mark Dauncey, of Marks & Clark, who will discuss issues of patents and how they affect a company's value.

Nick Butler, Connect Yorkshire's executive director, said: "The event is perfect for small and medium- sized enterprises in the life science and healthcare sectors, and also for academics and researchers with commercial ambitions."

To book a free place, phone Rose Lindsay Smithy at Science City York on 01904 554533.