The Millennium Star, a pear-shaped 203-carat diamond that Harry Oppenheimer, the industry veteran, termed the “most beautiful diamond I have ever seen”, famously took three years to cut. If Paul van der Steen had his way, it would have taken a month.

The shy Belgian is the brains behind Matrix Diamond Technology, an Antwerp-based company that is threatening to turn the diamond industry on its head.

Traditionally, cutters and polishers recover about 40 per cent from a rough diamond, producing one main stone in a pear or heart shape, along with several smaller rocks.

The process of working out which angles to take when cutting through the rough diamond with a laser - and how to extract maximum value while avoiding flaws and blemishes – can take months.

Matrix uses computer technology that can provide a three-dimensional map of a diamond and calculate the various cutting options in a matter of days.

Mr van der Steen said: “We think we can add around 20 per cent to 25 per cent to the value a company will get from the rough diamond. A human will look at diamond, study it for two to three days, come back to it perhaps another twenty times, looking at various options.

“We can process hundreds of thousands of different combinations overnight and provide much more accurate instructions. Before, people cut the main stone out of the rough and lost the rest.”

Leading manufacturers, such as the South African Diamond Corporation, have similar technology but insist on using it in combination with teams of artisans.

However, industry figures believe that firms such as Matrix could revolutionise the industry and help cutting firms in African countries such as Botswana to compete with the fast-growing – and far cheaper – cutting centres in India and China.

Charles Wyndham, a founding partner of WWW Interational Diamonds Consultants, which values diamonds for Gem Diamonds and for the Canadian Governnment, said: “The diamond industry is one of the most conservatively constipated there is. However, it is machines that are going to be making decisions far more frequently in the future.”

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts