Friday 9 March 2018

Swansea East AM, Mike Hedges has asked First Minister, Carwyn Jones, to comment on the role of the Universities in Wales to act as drivers for the local economies


Swansea East AM, Mike Hedges has asked First Minister, Carwyn Jones, to comment on the role of the Universities in Wales to act as drivers for the local economies



Speaking after the Plenary Session, Local  Assembly Member, Mike Hedges said…’ there are several examples in other Cities in Nort America, Europe and England  where the university sector acts as an incubator for innovation and new business development. I have written about cities such as Mannheim and Aarhus work in supporting entrepreneurs and new business opportunities on previous occasions. I would like a similar approach to be adopted in Wales



I welcome the First Ministers reply that the Welsh Government are aware of the potential and are already exploiting these opportunities’

5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the role of universities in Wales as economic drivers? OAQ51829



First Minister of Wales


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Through their teaching and research activities, Welsh universities are contributing to the wider prosperity and well-being of Wales, raising the country’s profile internationally and attracting investment. And, of course, they have an important role to play in delivering our economic action plan.71




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Mike Hedges - Can I thank the First Minister for that response? Across Europe, North America and parts of England, universities act as major drivers of economic development and not just as major employers. For example, Mannheim has the Mannheim Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and provides a founder and incubator platform for students, young entrepreneurs and investors. Aarhus has, like Cambridge, a research park fostering innovation and employment. Does the Welsh Government have any proposals to emulate those two successful European cities within the two city regions of Wales?



First Minister of Wales


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Well, I would argue, of course, that they are already in place, to a great extent, and are being developed. If we look, for example, at the Menai science park development around Bangor University, it's one example of collaboration between Government, industry and Bangor University itself. Other examples? Well, Swansea University's second innovation campus, of course—one of the largest knowledge economy developments in the UK, which, I know, before the Member for Aberavon points out to me, is in his constituency, but nevertheless, of course, it's an important driver for both neighbouring constituencies and beyond.

We have the Trinity Saint David SA1 innovation quarter and that is estimated to contribute more than £3 billion to the regional economy over the next 10 years. We have SPECIFIC, based, of course, at Swansea University, collaborating with Tata Steel, with NSG Pilkington and AkzoNobel, and that focuses on the generation storage and release of energy related to buildings, and, of course, more widely, a compound semiconductor cluster infrastructure between Cardiff University and IQE and Aberystwyth's innovation and enterprise campus. So, we are seeing now the development in a number of universities of innovation and—the example I've given in Bangor—science parks in order to turn intellectual property and research into jobs.


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