It is somewhat ironic that I am sitting here having lunch in the middle of the world class ecosystem that is MIT when my academic colleague Rob Huggins is preparing to give his inaugural lecture at UWIC, in which he argues that Wales seems to lack the ideas to address the lack of innovation within the economy, which is proving a barrier to growth when coupled with the lack of investment in knowledge.As he states, "Evidence from leading regions around the world indicates that while universities can play an important development role, they are usually supported by a dense system of institutions, including publicly-funded research institutes and laboratories dedicated to applied research".
Of course, nowhere is there a better system to support R&D than that found here in Cambridge, Massachusetts and over the next two days, I will be attending the Regional Competitiveness Conference to discuss how we can partner with MIT to bring some of their best programmes to Wales
One of these programmes is the Deshpande Centre, which was established to help develop examining the commercial potential of novel-early stage research. The great news is that MIT would be willing for us to replicate Deshpande, and other such programmes, in Wales.
Our job now is to take full advantage of such an opportunity.
Comments
The private sector in Britain is notorious for failing to invest in future profit-making avenues.
from your posts you sound as if you're having a really productive time in MIT that's likely to benefit people and business in Wales when you come back, its a shame the decision makers in Wales aren't more supportive of the work you do.
CoP - I can be hopeful that welsh policymakers will listen. As I am typing, I have been listening to three excellent presentations on the Massachusetts business support system, the MIT mentoring service, and the MIT enterprise forum. I can tell you, there are already ideas buzzing about as a result!!!