DEVELOPERS behind award winning business educational software are travelling from York to Singapore on Sunday to start a world-wide tour for the launch of their latest product.

SimVenture, based Riccall, was launched in 2006 providing interactive software that allows people to launch a virtual company as a learning tool before setting up in business for real.

The product is now used in both educational and commercial environments in more than 40 countries, and has won numerous international awards.

This week will see SimVenture launch its first on-line business simulation SimVenture Evolution, with a world-wide tour which will see directors meet agents from across the globe in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the United States and Mexico.

As part of the development of Evolution, the SimVenture team has partnered with ten higher education institutions, spanning both sides of the Atlantic, each of which has committed money and time to the project.

SimVenture director Peter Harrington said: "The team has worked incredibly hard over the past few years in order to make this new product a reality and we are all very excited about the forthcoming launch.

"The development of SimVenture Evolution has taken four years of work and we've spent hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"However, the team knows that high quality business simulation technology has a crucial role to play helping people all over the world to understand the subjects of business, management and entrepreneurial leadership.

"By working with eight UK universities, as well as partners in the Far East, the Middle East and Latin America, we are confident SimVenture Evolution will advance and accelerate the way people acquire skills and knowledge both in education as well as corporate training environments."

Evolution is being designed for use in commercial and educational environments and includes an array of innovative and new features. Users will be able to run a business for up to ten simulated years and the multiplayer functionality means people can go head-to-head in competition.

Additionally, teachers and trainers will have access to 'control tower' functionality so they can observe, communicate, alter and even assess user work.

The programme will see SimVenture move away from it's traditional download/upload usability, with users now able to log in online from anywhere in world as SimVenture hosts the product itself on its own servers.

Last week SimVenture was named the Most Enterprising Learning Product by a national enterprise competition at the House of Lords.

The 2015 Celebrating Enterprise Awards, hosted by the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) and the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI), rewarded the firm for its interactive software, which was created to simulate and predict outcomes for the challenges faced when running a business.