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 ...

This year, the Wales Fast Growth 50 publishes the twenty fourth listing of the fastest growing Welsh firms at a time when the UK economy faces some difficult headwinds due to a combination of higher energy prices, increasing inflation and a subdued business environment. That is why this year’s awards are more important than ever. With every business reconsidering their strategies for the future when uncertainties remain as to the future growth of the economy, the fifty firms featured in this magazine continue to be role models for others to follow in their footsteps. As with every firm that has featured on the Fast Growth 50, they make an incredible contribution to prosperity, employment, and innovation across the Welsh economy.  And they now become part of group of 701 entrepreneurial firms that, since we started charting their development in 1999, are estimated to have created 55,000 jobs and generated an estimated £30 billion of additional turnover, much of which is spent in the...

How entrepreneurial is Wales? That is the question that the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) attempts to answer in its latest report which investigates those involved in early-stage entrepreneurship i.e. starting and managing a new business.  This year’s results show that the rate of total early-stage entrepreneurship (TEA) in Wales in 2021 was 10.3% as compared to 11.5% for the UK. This is significantly higher than the previous year (6.5%) and means that around 192,000 adults aged between 18 and 64 are involved in entrepreneurial activity in Wales.  Nearly three quarters are in the very early stages of starting a business and the rest involved in managing a new business aged between 4 and 42 months old.  This is an important finding as not only is the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity in Wales increasing but this is largely accounted for by those starting a business. In this respect, it is critical that the right support mechanisms are in place to ensu...

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...

Recent research from the office for National Statistics showed that whilst the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had been greatest for younger workers, those older workers aged 50 years and over have also been affected and to a greater extent than those in middle age. For example, employment for older workers was at a record high just prior to the beginning of the lockdown in March 2002 but since then, it has fallen at a higher rate than for the rest of the working population. The data also showed that those employees aged 50 years and over were more likely to report working fewer hours than usual because of the coronavirus than those aged under 50 years, with those aged 65 years and over the most likely to say they had worked reduced hours. In addition, older workers had the highest overall increase in redundancies, and this presents a bigger challenge for this age group as they are more likely to be unemployed long-term than younger people.  In fact, once older workers lose their j...

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 ...

  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...

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...

Earlier this week, in association with Wales Week London , we launched the sixth Wales Start-Up Awards which celebrates the success of the best new Welsh businesses every year. It was a pleasure to interview a number of the award winners that are making a real stamp on their industries and markets.  These included Project Blu , overall winner in 2020 which has signed a major multi-million pound deal to sell their environmentally friendly dog products in the USA; Yoello , the Cardiff-based payments specialist which had to pivot during the pandemic but has completed a major funding round to expand their operations substantially; t he Goodwash Company , whose innovative approach to their business is putting them on the path to becoming a major UK brand in the next couple of years; and the Enbarr Foundation which is rewriting the textbook on community entrepreneurship through its efforts in Deeside. Despite all the challenges of the last 12 months, these amazing founders had not only s...

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...

When I launched the 2020 Wales Start-up Awards earlier this year, some wondered whether this was the right thing to do given that the economy had gone into full lockdown at the end of March.  I mean, how many new businesses would be set up business during a pandemic and, indeed, wouldn’t people avoid any type of entrepreneurial activity under such circumstances. According to the Centre for Entrepreneurs' annual analysis of Companies House data, a record 772,002 new businesses were established in the UK in 2020 representing a totally unexpected increase of 13.3% on the previous year although there was not and even pattern of new business formation from March to December. For example, the index (which is produced using the Companies House register of live UK limited companies) showed that in April 2020 when the whole of the UK was under the strictest lockdown measures, the number of new businesses in the UK fell by 29% as compared to 2019, with Scotland and Northern Ireland experienc...

Since 2017, the South Wales Business School has been proud to support the compilation of the Wales Top 300 in partnership with Wales Online. Utilising the latest data from Companies House, we have compiled a list of the largest Welsh businesses and examined their impact on the Welsh economy in terms of employment and sales.  Unfortunately, we have again been unable, due to corporate structures, to determine the contribution of companies such as Tata Steel, Ford, BT and Airbus, as well as major retailers such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s which are headquartered elsewhere but have a significant presence in Wales.  In addition, there is a lag in the data collected due to accountancy norms and this list certainly does not take into account the effect of Covid-19 on the Welsh economy over the last nine months.  That will be seen next year when businesses submit their accounts for 2020 and we will get a fuller picture of how the pandemic has affected turnover and jobs within ...

In 2020, the year that none of us will ever forget, I had considered carefully whether the annual search for the fastest growing firms in Wales should be cancelled. Certainly, it became obvious that we could not hold the annual awards dinner which is one of the highlights of the Welsh business calendar every year. However, as the economy battles to emerge from recession, it is clear that we need more than ever to celebrate the creativity, innovation and sheer determination of the best of Welsh businesses, something that was clearly emphasised by those many firms that, despite the lockdown we suffered earlier this year, wanted to be considered for the Wales Fast Growth 50. Like other businesses across Wales, the majority of those featured on the 2020 list had been hit hard by the lockdown in March and yet they have survived, recovered and, more importantly have started growing again, with a number registering their best quarter of trading during the summer. They have made significant c...

As predicted, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced specific support last week for the tourism and hospitality industry that has been hardest hit by the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.  This included cutting VAT to 5 per cent for food, accommodation and attraction  businesses and the unprecedented introduction of a half price discount on meals and non-alcoholic drinks every Monday to Wednesday in August. Many applauded Rishi Sunak for this bold move but, of course, these incentives will only benefit businesses that are open to paying customers and, unfortunately, that is not the currently the situation in Wales. However, the good news released yesterday lunchtime after desperate pleas from the tourism industry across Wales is that pubs, cafes, restaurants and bars can reopen indoors in Wales from 3rd August if coronavirus cases continue to fall.  The law enforcing the 2m social distancing rules will also be altered if other measures such as the installation ...

They say a week is a long time in politics and the last seven days has certainly demonstrated that old adage remains true. Last Saturday, I again made the case in this column that those entrepreneurs who had started new firms in Wales in 2019 and 2020 would not be supported by the Welsh and UK Governments’ interventions to support businesses during Covid 19 and needed help urgently. Simply put, this meant that at a UK level, 12,000 Welsh startups would not get a Covid-19 self-employed grant as are clearly unable to provide self-assessment data for 2018-19 nor would they be able to get a business rates grant as most do not have premises and either sub-lease or work from home.  In Wales, the fact that they are less than two years old and with the vast majority not VAT registered, those start-ups based in Wales cannot get access to the £500m Economic Resilience Fund announced by the Welsh Government including the new £100m loan programme from the Development Bank of Wales. The respons...

As many economists will inform you, innovation is a key foundation to any successful and competitive country and the development of new technologies, products, processes and services can make a real economic difference to local, regional and national economies.  Despite this, there have been criticisms that innovation in the UK is limited to being driven by a small number of individuals and organisations and that the public feels generally disengaged from the process. That is why a recent survey from the innovation body NESTA on public attitudes to innovation and technology is valuable in not only showing current public perceptions but also where the priorities in shaping future policies towards the Welsh economy and wider society should be. The study, which interviewed over a thousand adults, demonstrates that there is not only uncertainty in Wales about the future but a sense of disempowerment in shaping it going forward with half stating that they often felt the world was chan...

  Last week, the Welsh Government launched its first ever international strategy for the nation .  Its ambitions are to raise Wales’ profile internationally by building on its reputation as a place buzzing with creativity where people are free to innovate and experiment; grow the economy by increasing exports and attracting inward investment; and establishing Wales as a globally responsible nation.  To achieve this, the Welsh Government have set out a number of priorities, all of which will add value to the economy going forward. This will help raise the nation’s profile through a variety of interventions including increasing Wales’ presence with Europe, working more closely with the Welsh global diaspora and empowering key Welsh organisations to enter difficult markets.  To become globally responsible, it will become the first country to put the UN sustainability goals into law by promoting the Well-being of Future Generations Act, become known as a world-leading na...