PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Have just got back from a couple of days in Beijing taking in the Great Wall and visiting the Forbidden City with my wife and two young sons. Harri (my eight year old) and I managed to climb the wall, which took us around an hour - I am certainly not as fit as I used to be! Anyway, seeing the steepness of the climb on the way down (which took about 25 minutes to get from the highest tower) and the pained expressions of those struggling up, made me feel slightly smug, especially as that had been me around sixty minutes earlier! Anyway, the day before Beijing was spent at CELAP (pictured above) the training university for the higher cadre of the chinese communist party, where I lectured Chinese CEOs on the development of entrepreneurship within large organisations. It was really enjoyable, especially the Q&As where they revealed some knowledge on Wales and its economy. Anyway, I have been invited to Harbin City in the North East by the head of the province's small business bureau...

Last week, Professor Phil Gummett, the chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales ( HEFCW ), the body responsible for funding universities in Wales, took it upon himself to lambast both myself and Richard Lambert - the new director general of the CBI - for our interpretation of the situation regarding enterprise within Welsh universities and, in particular, my call for greater effort by all Welsh higher education institutions in ensuring a more coherent approach to entrepreneurship. Whilst I am honoured to be classified with Mr Lambert - who wrote the seminal report on how to develop greater university- industry links - and I accept that 'shooting from the hip' means that you are rightly open to comment, I believe it is only fair to examine, in greater detail, some of the 'facts' quoted by Professor Gummett. They hide some very pertinent statistics regarding the commitment of individual universities in Wales to entrepreneurship. For example, when ...

Arrived in Shanghai safely after a 10 hour flight from London. Having finally got through customs at 8am, we went straight to my friend's house where we all attempted not to sleep (and be hit by jetlag for the rest of the week). We all then were taken to a lunch reception being held by Linklaters on the visiting UK frigate, HMS Westminster (below) where the great and good of the Shanghai financial set (plus the Jones-Evans clan!) were present. After a back massage by a house visiting blind local masseuse (I am not making this up!), my host Charles Li (head of RBS China) and I cycled to the local Irish pub for a couple of pints to catch up on a year's lost conversation before joining the Jones-Evans and Li families for a thai meal at one of the local restaurants in Pudong. This afternoon, I woke up after sleeping for over 15 hours - that what happens when you go through the jet lag barrier to adjust to local time. Spent the afternoon at the aquarium before going to the top floor...

Manufacturing in Wales is currently in deep crisis. This is the view of a number of commentators and economists, with estimates suggesting that more than 3,000 well-paid jobs have already been lost in the sector during the last six months. One of the biggest worries of all is over the future of Airbus, where the wing production plant in Broughton is the jewel in the crown of Welsh and UK manufacturing. The problems faced by the company , with delays to the production of the new A380 super- jumbo (pictured above), along with the sale of the 20% stake of UK BAE Systems, have led to suggestions that it is inevitable that the plant in North East Wales will be moved elsewhere. On business grounds, one would hope that any cutbacks are very unlikely, given the high skills that have been built up over many years at the Broughton site. However, with the current owners of Airbus - especially those in Germany and France - now facing the possibility of job cuts within their own countries, politics...

One of the key issues for the successful future development of the Welsh economy is harnessing the skills and potential of all its population, especially young people who have so much to offer this nation if they can only be given the right opportunities to develop their skills and talents. One new initiative which is on track to make a major difference to young people in some of our more deprived communities is being developed by the Welsh Coalfields Trust . Chaired by Sir Roger Jones, former chair of the Welsh Development Agency, the Trust aims to generate money to support a new Awards Scheme to help young people in the former coalfield areas of Wales to seize opportunities presented by the fast growing creative and cultural industries sector in Wales. In an innovative move for Wales, this Awards Scheme will be funded by the creation of a Social Investment Bond which will support the talents of young people rather than returning interest to the investors. Therefore, individuals and ...

Last week, I spent two days in the former East Germany as an international adviser to the OECD , which had been commissioned to develop a local economic strategy for the city of Halle (pictured). It was fascinating to get the opportunity to talk to a group of industrialists and educationalists who were fully engaged in developing the potential of their region. Part of the strategy to be adopted within the city was to ensure that the university could make a worthwhile contribution to the development of the local economy. Some work had already begun, especially in launching actual start-up businesses that are spinoffs from universities. For example, since its founding in 2004, a specialist organization by the name of UNIVATIONS has been involved with more than 200 student-owned businesses and has created enormous interest in the whole field of starting a business. Perhaps this is because the focus of entrepreneurship education in Halle is interdisciplinary. Whereas many other universitie...

Just got back from the Turku Archipelago where, yes, the steaks, sauna and red wine were experienced to the full! It was great being out on the sea for a few hours, with hardly any other boats to be seen. Professor Antti Paasio took me to this small island which is owned by his sailing club (as are numerous others around the archipelago). We then fired up the wood burning sauna owned by the club, waited for about an hour by sitting, drinking, talking and putting the world to right, before spending an hour sweating out the red wine we had consumed. The amazing thing about the place was the absolute silence around you. We then cooked the steaks on board and consumed them with yet another bottle of red wine. The following day, we woke up to rain and set back to the harbour, a journey of about three hours. Perhaps the strangest sight was seeing three massive ferries come very close to us at the narrowest point on the route between Stockholm and Turku. Anyway, back to teaching tomorrow afte...