PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

The most competitive economies in the World are those which invest in research and development (R&D) and focus on driving innovation. Unfortunately, as several research studies have shown, Wales does not perform well in terms of generating or developing innovation and this, in turn, impacts on the nation’s economic performance.   For example, a recent report from NESTA pointed out that Wales is one of three UK economic areas with low R&D intensity in key sectors. Official government statistics also reveal that over the last fifteen years, Welsh businesses have been responsible for only 2% of business expenditure on R&D in the UK.   The UK Innovation Survey showed that only 34% of Welsh firms were classed as innovation active in 2016-18 as compared to 38% for the UK. Businesses in Wales also  have lower levels of internal R&D than businesses in any other nation or region apart from Scotland.  This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as Wales ...

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 ...

If we are to create a successful knowledge-based economy, then the transfer of knowledge from universities to businesses will be a vital part of that transformation over the next decade. In particular, understanding what actually happens in the interactions between higher education and industry and improving the way both partners work together will be key in maximising the potential to create and support the industries of the future. That is why new research published this week by the Centre for Business Research at the University of Cambridge and the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) should be vital reading for Vice Chancellors, chief executives and policymakers. It is an impressive study and this column will not be able to do justice to all of the results that have emerged from a survey of nearly 4,000 businesses examining how they interact with universities in the UK. However, some of the higher level findings show that universities and businesses do work together...

This week, the long overdue Levelling Up White Paper was published by the UK Government. Weighing in at 332 pages, it is a substantial piece of work that puts forward the case for addressing the economic inequalities across the UK.  Naturally, some critics have already suggested that it long on ambition and short on the funding needed to achieve that ambition. Nevertheless, it must be applauded for at least getting this important issue front and centre when it comes to government policy and also on identifying a number of broad objectives to ensure a more equal distribution of economic prosperity in every part of the United Kingdom.  These include boosting productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector (especially in those places where they are lagging) as well as spreading opportunities and improve public services in the weakest regions. By adopting a bottom-up rather than the usual top-down approach, it also intends to restore a sense of community...

One of the most important economic reports that is published annually is also one that is often overlooked by many politicians and policymakers despite its findings being relevant to the vast majority of businesses in the UK. The “State of Small Business Britain” report from the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) reviews a range of research and analysis to present an annual review of the trends affecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. For 2021, it is not surprising that the report has focused on the challenges that many small firms have faced in coping with COVID-19 but it also examines the opportunities to strengthen the sector as we finally emerge from the pandemic especially in terms of what is termed the ‘Triple Transition’ namely business digitalisation, adoption of net zero practices and the upgrading in productivity. What does the report tell us? Not surprisingly, one of the major findings is that SMEs have been in financial difficulties during 2021 with an i...

With new firms responsible for the creation of employment, the generation of wealth, the development of innovation, the disruption of markets and support for local communities, entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as one of the key forces behind boosting economic prosperity around the World. As we emerge from the pandemic, those entrepreneurs with amazing ideas for new businesses will be the ones who will generate the new jobs during the post-Covid recovery, reimagine our town centres and drive forward innovation in a range of sectors.  In other words, the UK will need more home-grown, innovative firms to regenerate the economy especially within the more deprived parts of the nation where supporting the development of these entrepreneurial ventures will contribute significantly to closing the prosperity with the more prosperous regions.  To make a contribution to this agenda, I am currently working with colleagues at the University of South Wales and the Alacrity Foundation o...

Whilst change is usually a long drawn out process that can take years if not decades to take effect, there is a revolution in the development of innovation that is slowly but surely changing the way that economies achieve competitive advantage in a rapidly changing global business environment. During the late 19th and 20th centuries, the process of innovation was driven by businesses generating product ideas internally which they would then develop, manufacture and sell themselves.  As a result, they gained competitive advantage through  heavy investment in research and development (R&D) and hiring the brightest people to get to market first. Once this was done, companies would then protect their new products through aggressively controlling intellectual property to stop anyone else exploiting it. This would then result in greater profits which could then be reinvested in more R&D and hiring more staff to develop more new products, thus creating a virtuous circle that ...

  As the world economy begins to shake off the effects of Covid-19, nations will be looking to gain competitive advantage as they recover from the recession caused by the pandemic. Research has shown that innovation remains a key element of competitiveness and a factor that can differentiate national economies in terms of growth and development. An important data source to understand this phenomenon is the Global Innovation Index (GII) which was published earlier this week. This not only captures the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 economies and ranks them, but also tracks the most recent global innovation trends.  So what does it say about the state of innovation during the Covid-19 crisis? Whilst economies have generally had a rough time over the last 18 months, the GII 2021 report shows that not only has investment in innovation shown great resilience during 2020 but, in certain sectors and regions, has exceeded expectations.  In terms of ranking, it is worth n...

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been using my annual leave to catch up with some long overdue reading.  One of the books that I revisited was the autobiography of Jack Welch, the former CEO of global conglomerate General Electric and someone who is widely acknowledged to be one of the most astute and successful businessmen of the last 100 years. Obviously, there are many quotable sayings from the great man but one that I think that is pertinent to the challenges facing today’s economy is one he made at a symposium in Boston back in 2006 where he said that although people often think innovation is limited to practical scientific advances, it’s about much more than that. In fact, Welch always believed that to innovate something is as important as inventing it. In fact, a study from Jack Welch’s old employer GE showed that innovation is a key tool in developing a competitive advantage in a global economy but that businesses do not do that on their own. In fact, increasing collab...

Earlier this week, there was some excellent news for the creative industries sector in South East Wales when the UK Government announced that media.cymru project was to be granted £22.2 million under its Strength in Places Fund.  This will bring together key stakeholders in the industry, including UK broadcasters, universities, small local businesses and freelancers in a £50m initiative to research and develop new products and services for global markets. The Strength in Places Fund - which has been established to support economic development across the UK – is an excellent policy tool in that it funds the specific competitive strengths of different parts of the UK. It forms an important part of the UK Government’s new innovation strategy to boost private sector investment in R&D across the whole of the UK and create the right conditions for all businesses to innovate. It is an ambitious approach that aims to increase annual government investment on R&D to £22 billion, help...

  Earlier this week, a forecast from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development stated that the UK would have the fastest growth of any major economy in 2021.  However, it also suggested that following the biggest decline in its economy since the great Frost of 1709, it would take longer than many of its global competitors such as Germany or the USA to regain the losses suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given this, it is clear that there will need to be a concerted effort by both government and the business community to regain lost ground over the next few years.  According to a report from Universities UK, a key actor in supporting businesses, employment and local regeneration will be higher education. By working in partnership with the  public, private and voluntary sectors, it can be a driving force behind the recovery of the UK as well helping to level up the UK through skilled graduates and driving forward local regeneration projects.  F...

Innovation is one of the key drivers behind the most competitive economies in the World.  Yet as various studies have shown over the last decade, Wales is one of the least intensive nations or regions of the UK in terms of research and development (R&D). This is not only in regard to the considerably lower levels of research funding attracted by the university sector over the last two decades but also in terms of the lower levels of expenditure by Welsh firms on R&D which means that only a third are active in terms of innovation across the economy.  This is despite hundreds of millions of pounds of European funding being focused to boost innovation since devolution which, unfortunately, has largely failed to increase the performance of either higher education or the private sector relative to the rest of the UK. So what can be done to improve this? That is the subject of a recent paper by two of our leading thinkers on innovation namely Professors Rick Delbridge and Ke...

With the majority of us still working from home during a dark and cold January, it may difficult to envisage that in less than one hundred days and barring any postponement from Cardiff Bay, we will be voting in the elections for the Welsh Senedd. As the political parties start to formulate their manifestos, various organisations, pressure groups and other bodies are putting together a list of their priorities that the next Welsh Government will hopefully enact as part of their programme. One of the most important of these submissions has come from the Welsh university sector that, during the last five years, has been responsible for developing world class research and innovation, delivered skills to people of all ages and backgrounds, and made a significant contribution to the economic and societal wellbeing of Wales. As the nation looks to recover from the challenges that we have all faced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, higher education institutions are aiming to continue thi...

Yesterday morning, I listened to a webinar launching a new report by the National Centre for Universities and Businesses (NCUB) which focused on how the power of research and innovation could be harnessed to develop the UK economy.  With speakers including Anne Glover (co-founder of venture capitalists Amadeus), Lord Bilamoria (President of the CBI) and Louise Richardson (Vice Chancellor of  Oxford University), the hour and half was a tour de force on how the UK can develop a policy approach that will not only help us to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic but also on how universities and businesses can work together to seize the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution. The report itself made a series of recommendations which need to be taken seriously by the UK Government over the next few months. Not surprisingly perhaps, one of the key proposals was for the refreshment of its Industrial Strategy which, given that it was published in 2017, may not be fit for purpose...

  Last week, the latest edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) was published, a report. that is not only an annual assessment of innovation trends but also examines the individual performance of 131 economies around the world. According to the index, the three most innovative nations in the world are Switzerland, Sweden and the United States with the United Kingdom ranking fourth, an increase of one since last year. Interestingly, the UK ranks first in the world for the quality of scientific publications and second in the quality of its universities. More broadly, the report makes a number of notable findings. Whilst innovation is concentrated at the level of science and technology clusters in a small number of high-income economies (with Cambridge and Oxford identified as the leading locations), the innovation performance in many developing economies has been impressive despite various challenges such as the decline in the funding of innovation. In fact, there continues to b...

Over the last few months, we have seen many reports purporting to be responding to the challenges that will be faced by the UK following the Covid-19 pandemic. In addressing this “new normal” some have, frankly, stretched incredulity with their claims of revolution in society, the workplace and the economy as a whole.  However, when an organisation such as nesta – one the UK’s leading thinktanks - brings together its thoughts on how innovation could and should change to create a more equitable and productive economy going forward, then it is worth an hour of anyone’s time (especially those in working in politics and policy) to read through its conclusions. Its report “Innovation after Lockdown - using innovation to build a more balanced, resilient economy ” certainly hits the mark with a number of observations and, more importantly, recommendations that need to be considered carefully at the highest levels of government. The most important point is that whilst we all know that inno...