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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