PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

With new legislative powers being devolved to Wales in May, there is increasing interest as to whether the Assembly will be less timid in its approach to economic development and transport issues than it has been during its first two terms. In particular, the absence of any large major project in developing the potential of our nation means that we continue to prop up the UK’s prosperity league table with little prospect of any major change in the future. The fact that we have qualified for another round of European Structural funding as one of the poorest regions in Europe is testament to this. One future cure for this economic malaise could be the attraction of imaginative large infrastructure projects that could, and should, make a difference to the Welsh economy. A few months ago, I was sent details of a plan that has been doing the rounds for a number of years , namely the development of major international airport within Wales. No, I am not talking about Cardiff Airport , which c...

THERE is always some debate on how you measure economic prosperity within a nation. While some politicians would prefer to measure more esoteric notions such as wellbeing, the majority of economists (and the UK Government) use Gross Value Added (or GVA) as the key measurement of wealth in the nation. This simply measures the difference between the output of goods and services and the cost of raw materials and other inputs. In Wales, I am sure policymakers dread the annual figures that come out every second Friday of December, as they indicate whether all their efforts have actually made an economic difference to Wales, and whether, relative to the rest of the UK, we have grown in prosperity. Unfortunately, Santa did not bring an early Christmas present this year, with our relative prosperity actually dropping to its worst level for many years which was a surprise to many, including myself. Indeed, I am sure that many politicians will be disappointed at the fact that we seem not only to...

Yesterday, I attended the funeral of John Lloyd Jones, Spin-Off manager for North Wales. John finally lost his battle with cancer late last week after beating it for the first time five years ago. John was a unique character whom I had the pleasure of working with closely since 2000. He helped various businesses to start up from both the University of Wales Bangor and NEWI, including Outlook Expeditions, the company I chair. Always a 'half full' man, he was quick with both advice and humour and everybody who worked with him valued his experience and professionalism. When I worked at NEWI, John did not shirk from coming for a night out with us 'young uns', and was there at the bar in the early hours of the morning when the rest had gone to bed. I last saw him four weeks ago when we both got on the same train at Chester. We had the usual long conversation on the hour's journey to Bangor and my last memory of him is his beaming smile and usual 'good luck' as w...

Last week, I was heartened by an interesting development in the world of knowledge creation and exploitation that will probably be spectacularly successful because our civil servants and politicians have had relatively little to do with it. At the beginning of this month, Cardiff University announced an agreement for the commercialisation of its research-generated intellectual property. Signing a £27 million deal with the specialist company Biofusion , the university has entered into a ten year agreement given this business the exclusive rights to commercialise all intellectual property derived from research at the university. Of course, the quid pro quo in this instance is that Biofusion has ringfenced around £8 million to support world class research at Cardiff University and funding to protect any intellectual property being developed. It is an interesting concept that has been long overdue in Wales, although I am surprised that instituons such as Finance Wales have not been more i...

Fascinating article in today's Sunday Times on Gordon Brown and the exact details of his pre-budget speech last week. Given the Chancellor's 'reputation' for economic competence, this is a damning critique. More tellingly, the description of Gordon Brown as the 'Artful Dodger' may be an image that long sticks in the mind of voters after he gets the top job next year.

If there is any further proof of the need for further university funding in Wales, then read no further than the latest edition of the China Daily . According to a Chinese Government report, the number of chinese graduates will reach 4.95 million, an increase of 820,000 over the previous year. Suddenly, China isn't gearing itself up for low paid jobs but is developing its potential to become a knowledge-based economy of the future. I hope our policymakers and politicians are taking notice of such developments as they squabble over a few million additional pounds for higher education in Wales.

As someone who has been advocating the crucial need for a Welsh science policy for a number of years, I was immensely disappointed that, four years on from when I made a call for more science funding at an Assembly Committee , the Labour Government here in Wales has come up with a document that, at best, can be called unambitious, tepid and totally unworthy of meeting the economic challenges that faces our nation over the next decade. More worryingly, there seems to have been a total misunderstanding of what a science policy should be about. It is not, as the policy document suggests , about developing national priorities in health, energy, the hydrogen economy, the environment, and sustainability. A science policy is about developing the key scientific competences in disciplines that underpin such fields, such as molecular biology, physiology, nuclear engineering, optoelectronics, electrochemistry and chemical catalysis. A science policy is about having those subjects stocked with exc...