Key Stakeholder Messages for Growing Mid Wales
Following a virtual event organised by AberInnovation and in partnership with IoD Wales and Growing Mid Wales on the 15th of December 2020, key stakeholders have developed a list of five key messages for the region.
Discussed during the event, these messages aim to demonstrate ways local businesses and stakeholders can contribute to Mid Wales’s future prosperity as the region prepares for the upcoming Mid Wales Growth Deal.
‘Perspectives on Growing the Mid Wales Economy: A Collaborative Approach’ saw over 70 invited businesses from across Mid Wales attend to hear from a panel of leaders about the importance of working together to enhance opportunities for the region’s future.
The following week, a significant milestone was reached with the signing of the Heads of Terms Agreement by Welsh Government, UK Government and the region’s two local authorities. The Heads of Terms commits both the Welsh and UK Governments to back the growth deal with an investment of £55m each.
Panelists on the day included Cllr Ellen Ap Gwynn, Ceredigion County Council Leader; Cllr Rosemarie Harris, Powys County Council Leader; Dr Rhian Hayward MBE, Chief Executive Officer, AberInnovation; Gareth Jarman, IoD Wales Chair; Professor Andrew Thomas, Head of Aberystwyth Business School; and Bronwen Raine, Managing Director, Antur Cymru. The event was facilitated by IoD Wales’s National Director, Robert Lloyd Griffiths OBE.
Cllr Ellen Ap Gwynn said:
ʺGrowing Mid Wales was delighted to support this regional event held by AberInnovation regarding innovation and business growth here in Mid Wales. Innovation is vital to our region – now more than ever, after the impact of Covid-19 – but we can only realise its full potential by working together collaboratively and thinking long term.
We have an ambitious vision for the economic future of Mid Wales. The realisation of the Mid Wales Growth Deal will play a part in helping us achieve that vision, but there are other investments and initiatives that will need to be developed and delivered in partnership. Bringing together key stakeholders and regional businesses puts the building blocks in place for us to deliver for the future.”
The five collaboratively established key messages aim to help local businesses shape key stakeholders’ thinking for the future of the region, especially with regards to how we will best advance through the current challenges of Brexit and Covid-19. There is also an emphasis on forward-looking collaboration between both public and private sectors, to form a positive narrative for economic development in Mid Wales.
Dr Rhian Hayward MBE, CEO at AberInnovation, said:
“We are pleased to facilitate stakeholder discussions on the opportunities to grow our economy in Mid Wales. AberInnovation is a catalyst for research and innovation in the region and also for a shared vision of prosperity for the community we are all so proud to live and work in. We are all committed to collaboration across Mid Wales, to support academia and industry to innovate and succeed in creating new high-quality jobs. I look forward to more discussion and shared actions going forward.”
The Mid Wales Growth Deal represents a significant opportunity to transform the region. It will form part of a wider regional portfolio of investment with the aim to support job creation and increase productivity and wider societal and environmental ambitions in Mid Wales. The portfolio focuses on several priority areas for intervention including digital connectivity, applied research and innovation, energy and skills.
More detailed proposals in the form of a Portfolio Business Case are currently under development and these will underpin the next milestone, the Full Deal Agreement, later in in 2021.
