MIKE HEDGES MS QUESTIONS WELSH GOVERNMENT MINISTER ON RESEARCH AT WELSH UNIVERSITIES.
Speaking from his Senedd office, local Swansea East MS Mike Hedges said… ‘I welcome the announcement regarding Investment Zones, but am naturally disappointed that there is not a third zone covering the Swansea City Deal Area. However, we can still focus on Universities and use them as a focus for driving innovation and investment as has been done in European Cities like Aarhus in Sweden.
We have recently seen developments in the SA1 area of Swansea which show that there can be a achieved between Universities and private sector firms to drive regeneration of our communities.’
I very much welcome the statement today. It is positive that the current policy is focused on a small number of high-potential clusters linked to strong research capabilities. The danger always is that you end up pepper potting and nothing ever comes out of it.249
The Minister's right—there are areas where our comparative strength can boost wider productivity and economic growth. Industries capable of substantial growth include ICT, life sciences, finance and professional services, and these are not geographically constrained. If we aim to succeed in these sectors we need to learn from western Europe and north America and the cities and regions within those that are being hugely successful in those areas.250
As someone representing part of the Swansea Bay city region, I'm disappointed that the intention is only two zones—one in south-east Wales and one in north Wales. But, that is what it is. Does the Minister agree that it is important to use universities in Wales as centres to drive innovation and investment, with universities creating science and innovation parks, so that we can be as successful as other areas in Europe and North America?251
16:15
'Yes' is the short answer. To be fair, Mike Hedges regularly makes the point about the value and the importance of universities as part of our research and innovation infrastructure and the ecosystem that we're looking to develop. He made similar points, indeed, when we were talking about the launch of the innovation strategy, and he's right to do so. Our challenge is how we make sure that we have an environment where that success is delivered, through research, and applied then into economic value and benefit. And I actually think that part of this is the key importance of the statement that I made a few weeks ago on a coherent approach to economic development, working with regions as partners and understanding the particular strengths that exist within those regions, some of which will, of course, be contained within the relevant university sector.
No comments:
Post a Comment