PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Whilst we normally think of innovative new businesses being supported to grow through investments by business angels or venture capital firms, it is easy to forget the role that public sector funding can play in boosting the development of entrepreneurial businesses that are bringing new products or services to the market. Back in 1988, I embarked on my Ph.D at Aston University to study technical entrepreneurship in the UK by examining 60 winners of SMART (Small firms Merit Award for Research and Technology) awards across the UK.   It was the first study of its type in the UK at a time when entrepreneurs were still considered as peripheral not only in terms of their contribution to the economy but also in respect of their role in developing innovation and disruptive technologies. Certainly, the only place you would find the term unicorns back then was in children’s books or toy shops. Fast forward thirty four years and the funding landscape has changed considerably as has the ...

Last week, the Growing Value Wales Task Force - made up of leading academics and industrialists - published a ground-breaking report which examined the practical ways of harnessing the talent being developed in Welsh universities and strengthening research and development for the benefit of the nation’s economy. It is a timely piece of research given the imperative for the nation to become more innovative as we seek new opportunities following the decision to leave the European Union. Not surprisingly, the report emphasised that Wales remains in a relatively weak position with regard to the traditional metrics of research and innovation performance such as the percentage of GDP expended on R&D investments by firms. In addition, it showed that businesses are more likely to look to suppliers, clients and customers rather than seek external sources of innovation such as ideas from universities. This is despite the fact that there is high quality of research in Wales albeit wi...

As we all know, support for innovative businesses has been at the heart of the economic development strategies adopted by flourishing regions around the World. In the UK, one of the success stories of the last five years has been the emergence of Silicon Roundabout as a centre for the fast growing digital start-up scene in the East End of London. It has definitely made an impact with global firms such as Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel and McKinsey investing into the area and many now seeing it as a real global ’hotspot’ for entrepreneurial firms, particularly in the fast expanding digital sector. Some would say that by being based in the most prosperous region of the UK and one of the most attractive cities in the World, this is not unexpected. However, what is surprising is that the organisation supporting this development (known as Tech City UK) is actually receiving £2.2m from the UK Government’s main technology agency - Innovate UK - to pay for “programmes policy informin...