They say that information is power but in the case of
economic development, information is what you that ability to make informed
decisions that can have a real impact on individuals and businesses.
For information geeks like myself, getting access to data
that can really demonstrate how an economy works is the holy grail in terms of
understanding the business community.
That is why it was really exciting to attend a presentation last
week on a ground-breaking project that could, if developed properly, have that
impact here in Wales.
The innovation charity NESTA, with funding from the Welsh
Government, has established a new innovation analytics project called
Arloesiadur (which is Welsh for “Innovation Tool”).
This is a web platform which will measure and understand
innovation and, through this, present policymakers in Wales with data to make
informed decisions.
To date, the Arloesiadur project has analysed business
datasets from the Office of National Statistics, open data published by
Research Councils and Innovate UK, and web data from Meetup (an event
platform).
In doing so, it has attempted to use official data to map
industrial activity, analyse the industrial structure of local economies, and identify
communities of innovators. I has also examined the levels of research activity
in different disciplines and local economies in Wales, mapping existing
research collaboration networks and identifying new opportunities for
cooperation.
Some of the initial results from an analysis of this data are
fascinating and reveal trends about the Welsh economy that many would not have
realised.
For example, Wales is rapidly gaining jobs in high paying
industries and between 2011 and 2015, the number of people working in sectors
like R&D, aerospace or telecommunications grew by 73% (from 22,200 to
38,500 jobs). The economy is also already competitive in several high
knowledge, high value added manufacturing industries like aerospace or
instruments, as well as sectors related to the green economy such as energy and
environmental services which should will become even more relevant in years to
come.
The data also shows that Wales has become more competitive
in scientific and technological areas, with a particularly strong recent
showing in engineering and technology, medical sciences and mathematics and
computing, where projects led by Welsh organisations were awarded £71m in
funding in 2015-16, compared with £55m in 2007-08.
According to Arloesiadur, the Welsh economy is developing
new strengths in knowledge intensive and creative sectors such as R&D,
creative services, computing and knowledge intensive business services. Whilst
businesses in these sectors represented 6.5% of Welsh businesses (20% more than
in 2010), they accounted for only 1.5% of Welsh employment suggesting that
these new sectors within the economy are being driven not by larger employers
but by small entrepreneurial ventures.
And there is enormous potential for the future with the
analysis of research trends suggesting growing strengths in Wales in research
areas related to the data revolution such as robotics and cybernetics,
prosthetics, robotics and health, bioinformatics, statistics and data analysis,
and security.
In fact, the analysis of tech communities using Meetup data
shows that Wales is being increasingly recognised as a centre of activity in
emerging technologies with attendees from all over the UK coming here to
participate in meetings about the data revolution, including topics such as big
data, data science and machine learning.
These results are a fantastic start to the project but
Arloesiadur has the ability to do so much more including identifying new
industries and technologies with strong growth potential; understanding how
business and knowledge networks work; monitor the evolution of innovative
industries; and examine the effect (both long term and short term) of
interventions by the Welsh and UK Governments.
Therefore, Arloesiadur is a long overdue policy development
which could help us to create a real competitive advantage by understanding the
strengths and weaknesses of our changing economy. More importantly, it could
become a vital tool in directing businesses, public bodies and governments
towards those opportunities that can make a real difference to the prosperity
of our nation.