Three weeks ago, one of my closest friends, Professor Martin Rhisiart, passed away at the tragically young age of 43.
Some of you will know Martin from his appearances commenting on the Welsh economy for both the BBC and S4C where he was always knowledgeable, erudite and had a way of simplifying even the most complex of issues.
A native of Pontiets in the Gwendraeth Valley in Carmarthenshire, Martin began his career working for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London where he conducted studies on transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe.
This was followed by nine years at the Observatory of Innovation at Cardiff Business School where he undertook research on a range of projects covering regional innovation, the automotive sector, new product development and innovation management.
It was here that Martin began his interest in future studies and how they affected the economy and society, especially here in Wales. He was successful in leading a trans-European project on futures (FUTURREG) and launched the Wales Futures Network to create a national group to support this area.
This led to Martin leaving Cardiff to establish the Centre for Research in Futures and Innovation at the University of Glamorgan to develop research in innovation studies and strategic foresight, namely the anticipation of future changes affecting the world.
Following the creation of the University of South Wales from the merger between the universities of Glamorgan and Newport, Martin was appointed as Professor of Strategy and Innovation, where he designed and delivered a range of research projects on innovation and strategic foresight, funded by a range of national and international bodies, including the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), the European Union), Forfas (national innovation agency, Ireland), and the Welsh Government.
Possibly his greatest contribution was as one of the leaders for the UK Skills and Employment 2030 research project, a study carried out for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), the publicly funded, industry led organisation providing strategic leadership on skills and employment issues in the four home nations of the UK.
This examined the key factors shaping the skills and employment landscape by the year 2030 and the options and implications for key stakeholders in the skills and employment agenda: employers, education and training providers, individuals and policy-makers.
It was a ground-breaking piece of research and given that skills and education remains at the forefront of economic policy-thinking, this will continue to help individuals and organisations for years to come.
In addition to his research, Martin was also an excellent lecturer, teaching a range of post-graduate modules on futures, strategy and innovation and supervising several PhD students in these areas. He also led the DBA professional doctorate programme specifically designed for senior managers and other professionals in private, public and non-profit organisations.
But Martin wasn’t only an academic – he also made significant contributions to policy and practice within wales. He was a member of the Innovation Advisory Council for Wales and the City Regions Task and Finish Group as well as being a non-executive director of Menter a Busnes, a not-for-profit enterprise development company.
When I joined the University of South Wales three months ago, I was excited by the prospects of working closely with Martin in the fields of innovation. We had recently co-authored a paper “The Impact of Foresight on Entrepreneurship: the Wales 2010 Case Study” which had been published in the international Journal “Technological Forecasting and Social Change”.
This was the first examination of the development of entrepreneurship policy in Wales over the last 25 years and how this had impacted on the Welsh economy. It had been very well received amongst both entrepreneurship and futures scholars and we were already planning a sister paper to examine how innovation policy in wales had changed over the same period.
And only this week, I received an email stating that another paper - this time developing a new approach to examining open innovation within small to medium-sized enterprises – had been accepted as a chapter in a book that will be published later this year.
Martin was just beginning to realise his enormous potential and he would have made a growing contribution and real impact not only to his academic area but, more importantly, in helping to shape the economy of the nation he loved so much.
Sadly that will no longer happen although the foundations he has established will be something I, and his colleagues, will build upon in the years to come.
As a colleague, I will miss his intelligence and insights but, as a friend, I will miss his conversation, his laughter and, above all his companionship.
Cysga’n dawel, hen ffrind.