Twenty-six years ago, I was appointed to my very first job as a research fellow at Durham University Business School, then the leading centre for entrepreneurship research and development in Europe.
The two and a half years I spent there were a wonderful education and experience and created the foundation for the rest of my career.
It was therefore fantastic to finally return again to Durham last weekend to see not only how the city itself had changed but also how the economy of the North East of England had developed since my departure in 1994.
Some may ask why this region in England would be relevant at all to anyone studying the economic state of Wales but in many respects, it is the one part of the UK that is most similar to ours both in terms of prosperity, employment and industry.
Both the North East of England and Wales are post-industrial peripheral economies struggling to find a new identity in an increasingly globalised world and we have much to learn from each other in respect of potential solutions to a way forward for our nation.
Whilst the North East of England does not yet have devolved powers, it has economic bodies - such as the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) - which is bringing together the private and public sectors to ensure that it has a coherent economic strategy for the region.
Therefore, given that the Welsh Government is currently developing its own economic plan for the future, it is worth examining some of the key priorities put forward by the North East LEP to deliver competitiveness and improved productivity in the future.
What is most striking about the strategy is that it is a ten year plan that is being driven by the private sector, albeit in partnership with local and national government. Whilst devolution may mean that the same exact approach may not be taken in Wales, close involvement with the business community will be critical in ensuring that wealth creators endorse, support and drive forward any future economic approach.
The other important aspect is longevity and consistency and whilst sticking to a ten year plan is not going to be easy for the North East LEP, there will be regular reviews to ensure that it is flexible enough to respond to the changing world. This contrasts to the situation in Wales where, in the first ten years of devolution, we had three different economic strategies created by successive Welsh Governments. This situation both confused businesses and failed to set a firm direction for the economy going forward.
The North East’s economic strategy is also rightly ambitious, something that politicians in Wales have unfortunately been largely reticent to do in recent years. The only exception to this was when the late Rhodri Morgan, at the beginning of the First Assembly, established a target for the Welsh economy to reach 90 per cent of UK prosperity.
Yes, it was seen by many as something that was very difficult given the state of the economy at the time and, in the best traditions of political spin, this was later downgraded from a target to an aspiration. Yet, the next economic strategy should strive to do better and not worry about what others may think of our performance. Indeed, if we do not set such targets for the economy, even in the long term, then we will clearly not put into place the mechanisms to achieve them.
For example, the North East of England has set a target of 100,000 growth in the number of jobs available by 2024 with 60 per cent of these being ‘better’ jobs – i.e. offering higher skilled, more productive and better quality opportunities to more people in the area. It has also focused on increasing the density of high growth businesses by 50 per cent through the creation of a business ecosystem that enables more businesses to scale and secure investment.
Whilst we may have individual programmes that do this in the Welsh Government’s current support mechanisms for business, they don’t as yet form part of an overall strategy that could make a difference to the direction our economy will take over the next few years.
Certainly, Wales should learn lessons from other regions in the development of any future economic strategy and, most important of all, not be afraid to set targets that will stretch both the public and private sectors in achieving them and creating wealth and prosperity across the nation.