PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Earlier this week, the Scottish Government published a new National Strategy for Economic Transformation. This contains seventy actions across five key priority programmes which, following a detailed analysis of Scotland’s economic strengths and weaknesses, have been identified as having the greatest potential to deliver economic growth. Given that there is no similar economic strategy here in Wales, it provides an interesting framework for the Welsh Government to examine in terms of approach over the next four years. I was particularly excited to see that one of the key priority programmes will focus on entrepreneurship to create a culture which entrepreneurship is encouraged, supported and celebrated. To achieve this, it will focus on four key projects that will result in Scotland being recognised as one of the best countries in the world to start and grow a business, surely something that should be an ambition here in Wales as well. The first of these projects is that of embedding t...

As we emerge from the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is clear that higher levels of entrepreneurship will one of the key factors in building back the Welsh and UK economies. Given this, it is worth examining the latest data on entrepreneurial activity in the UK from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). This worldwide project measured rates of entrepreneurship in 43 economies in 2020 with 9,453 adults interviewed for the UK study. As such, it gives us a comprehensive analysis of how entrepreneurship has been developing during one of the worst recessions in history. One of the key indicators within the GEM survey is Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) which measures those individuals that start and manage a new business.  According to the study, the rate of early-stage entrepreneurship in Wales in 2020 was 6.5% which is lower than the UK (7.5%), England (7.7%) and Scotland but higher than Northern Ireland (5.4%).  Unfortunately, this is ...

  Since the general election in December 2019, the term ‘levelling up’ has become used regularly by politicians in addressing the economic and social inequalities that exist across the UK.  Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic clearly interrupted any plans for developing policies to deal this issue, it has returned as a central theme of the programme for government as set out in the Queen’s Speech earlier this year. But what does the UK Government mean by the term levelling up and what will the policy aim to achieve over the next three years? That very question was at the heart of a recent report published by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee at the House of Commons. Unfortunately, the eleven MPs on the committee concluded that whilst it is something that is brought up constantly by the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and other politicians as being the central purpose and mission of the UK Government, there remains a lack of clarity about what it means beyond the aim ...

  Twenty-five years ago, I accepted the position of professor of entrepreneurship and small business management at the University of Glamorgan.  It was the first academic role of its type in Wales, and it was a proud moment in my life to be able to come home from University College Dublin in Ireland to begin a new journey promoting and developing the whole area of entrepreneurship both inside and outside the university. Of course, back then entrepreneurs were not valued within the economy and society not only in Wales but more widely across the World.  There was little appreciation of the impact of individuals such as Steve Jobs, there was no programmes such as Dragon’s Den on the TV and the thought of young people being encouraged to start up their own business rather than go into a safe job working for an established employer was seen as irresponsible at best. Instead, the strategy of economic development bodies was very focused much on spending tens of millions of poun...

After examining the ‘steady as she goes’ approach of the Welsh Labour Party and the blue sky thinking of Plaid Cymru’s approach to economic development in their respective manifestos, this week looks in detail at the plans from the Welsh Conservatives to improve the economy in Wales. Whilst drawing on the closer relationship that a Welsh Conservative Government would have with Westminster especially in terms of funding, some of the manifesto remains consistent with the traditional mantra of lower taxes for business and greater investment in upgrading the road network in Wales.  For example, there is a promise yet again to abolish business rates for small firms, a key pledge that has been central to the economic plans of every manifesto since 2007. This is supplemented by the idea that Business Rate Free Zones should be created to provide a three-year business rate holiday for firms although little detail is provided as to their location.  And given the stance of the party duri...

As noted last week, the economic manifesto from the Welsh Labour Party for the 2021 Senedd elections is very much a continuation their approach during the previous five years with few ideas put forward to radically transform the Welsh economy.  In contrast, Plaid Cymru’s long and detailed manifesto seemingly wants to change everything and is teeming with countless ideas that aim to create a new and very different approach to economic development. The main challenge in trying to assess this manifesto is that it does seem, at times, like a white board full of post-it notes that has yet to be honed sufficiently into the small number of key priorities that any party forming a government would need to focus on to deliver a coherent programme over the next five years.  Nevertheless, there are some interesting proposals that could be impactful on changing the direction of the Welsh economy. Perhaps the most significant is the focus on the “Local First” principle which aims to  i...

After one of the most tumultuous years in the history of this nation, Welsh voters will be going to the polls on May 6th to choose the next Welsh Government. Given what has happened in the last twelve months, it will be critical to have strong policies to help the economic recovery and to ensure that we do not fall further behind the rest of the UK in terms of prosperity and employment after the Covid-19 pandemic. So what have the main parties to offer in terms of the Welsh economy? That is what this column will be examining over the next three weeks prior to the Senedd election and there is no better place to start than by examining some of the promises from the current incumbents in the job, the Welsh Labour Party. Given that it has been in government since 1999, it may be understandable that the party is following a ‘steady as she goes’ and ‘safety first’ approach rather than the radical call to arms that some would argue is necessary at a time of crisis especially for an economy th...

Are digital skills optional for businesses to succeed? That is the question posed by a recent report commissioned by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). As various studies have shown, digital skills are becoming increasingly important for businesses to develop competitive advantage, retain and attract talent and to develop innovative ways of working. Yet, we are still not completely sure of the demand for digital skills which can vary from basic word processing skills to knowledge of highly specific software.  By analysing millions of online job adverts in the UK, this study attempts to address this issue and give pointers as to the future policy support needed to enhance digital skills demand and provision across the UK. The first finding from the study is that employers are increasingly requesting baseline digital skills - such as Microsoft Office – as essential for entry into jobs with over three quarters of employment opportunities withi...

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, a refugee is “someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group”. As we have seen from the news on a daily basis for the last few years, the refugee crisis has become a major challenge across the World with 66 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. In many cases, it is conflict that has been forcing people to flee their homes with over half of refuges coming from just three countries namely Syria, South Sudan and Afghanistan. Whilst less prosperous nations such as Turkey, Lebanon and Pakistan have taken the burden to host refugees, Western countries have been less enthusiastic to do so with the World’s six wealthiest countries only taking nine per cent of all refugees. The response in the UK has been particularly poor as compa...

Next Thursday, voters will be going to the polls for the second time in just over two years to elect a new government for the United Kingdom. Largely unexpected by most political pundits, the general election was called by the Prime Minister in April to “guarantee certainty for the years ahead” as the country enters negotiations with the European Union over its departure. For businesses, this certainty will be crucial especially in terms of the position we take on Brexit negotiations and the impact on our economy. But whilst it is critical for the next Government to ensure that UK businesses can weather any potential storm that could arise from our leaving Europe, there has been very little discussion to date on manifesto policies that directly affect businesses. Instead, other commitments have dominated the headlines, not least the muddled messages over the Conservatives’ social care policy and Labour’s spending plans which, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, co...

As those who regularly read this column will know, I am a strong advocate of learning from the experiences of others, especially when it comes to regional development. That is why the latest report from the UK’s innovation agency Nesta is of particular interest in understanding how other small nations have developed their economies successfully. "When Small is Beautiful – lessons from highly innovative small countries " makes a compelling case that when it comes to innovative economies, it is not only the giants of USA, Germany, Korea and Japan that dominate. Indeed, if we examine various indices on competitiveness and innovation, economies with populations of less than ten million such as Sweden, Finland, Singapore, Switzerland and Israel are usually ranked highly. So what can be learnt from the experiences of the most innovative smaller nations and are there lessons for Wales from such experiences? According to Nesta, the first common feature of these countries ...