Wales IC There are many reasons why doing business in Wales gives you a distinct advantage: from skills to strategic partnerships and a tailored approach to financial support. As part of the UK, but with our own devolved Government, we can make decisions quickly.
Knowledge capital The £100 million Sêr Cymru initiative brings prestigious research chairs to Welsh universities and supports national research networks in life sciences and health, low carbon energy and environment, and advanced engineering and materials. Wales has created an agenda that aims not only to expand academic science, but to translate science and technology into applications that lead to economic growth. In line with this, the universities of Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor and Aberystwyth have been investing heavily in infrastructure such as the new £300 million Innovation Campus at Cardiff University.
Professor Peter W Halligan PhD DSc FBPsS FPSI FMedSci FRSB CEO The Learned Society of Wales Wales has a remarkable group of academic and research strengths, which is not always well known. While compact, its eight universities, both in terms of productivity and efficiency, punch above their research income and make a significant contribution to the world-leading UK research base, second only to the US in its share of global citations. Wales has a large network of international collaboration with academic and innovative global links. Being a compact and connected country means that universities and businesses like IQE, Airbus, Rolls Royce and GE can work together to produce a synergistic ecosystem for research and innovation across Wales. Several of Wales’ universities boast examples of outstanding science research – from Nobel Laureates in Life Sciences research and Cardiff University’s design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products, to the award-winning Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth, Swansea’s innovative materials research advances, and Bangor’s impressive work in environmental protection and developing exciting plans with the nuclear industry. Personally, I’ve held several large international meetings here, making use of the great facilities in Cardiff and the other cities, bringing nearly 600 researchers per day to a three- day event exploring the effectiveness of brain injury rehabilitation. Many had come long distances and were impressed with both the facilities and capacities that Wales has to offer as a host destination.
Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales Croeso i Gymru/ Welcome to Wales Wales is known for its workforce expertise and for building strong links between higher education and industry. Aston Martin is one of the high profile companies to invest in Wales alongside established companies such as FTSE 100 Admiral and global players Airbus, GE Aviation and Deloitte. Wales’ pedigree as an events host is demonstrated by our success in attracting global events such as the UEFA Champions League Final, the NATO Summit and the Ryder Cup. We boast a truly unique natural landscape which can inspire creative thinking and innovation: three National Parks, three UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the only country in the world where visitors can walk the entire 1,400 km coastline. And all this is easily accessible from major UK cities, while Cardiff Airport is the second fastest growing airport in Europe. Complementing our diverse and established venues will be ICC Wales in 2019. We have a great story to tell of an agile and innovative nation with a truly global outlook. We look forward to making you a part of our story. This is Wales.
Cardiff Airport – More than 50 direct routes, including major European cities – Over 900 connections – 18 airlines – 150 routes available on new Qatar Airways service, starting 1st May 2018
Spencer Birns, Commercial Director, Cardiff Airport "Aiming for three million passengers a year by 2025 and developing plans for a new terminal in the future."
visitwales.com/businessevents tradeandinvest.wales xplore4.com/intellectualcapitals/wales
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THIS IS WALES – Wales is less than two hours from major UK cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool – Wales’ eight universities, four of which are in the world’s top 500 (QS World University Rankings), are second only to the US for global citations, and produce industry-ready graduates and a highly-skilled workforce – Where creative companies flourish. Wales has outstanding landscapes and locations, and is home to a growing developing technology cluster – Stunning venues and hotels, from ancient castles to famous golf resorts and the state-of-the-art brand new ICC Wales – Wales is committed to R&D and innovation, putting it at the forefront in developments in technology, engineering, energy, the environment and life sciences – The Welsh Government is approachable and supportive, and offers some of the highest funding and financial incentives in the UK for inward investment – Wales is highly competitive on cost: property prices and commercial rents offer exceptional value for money
ICC Wales key facts – Opening 2019 – 5,000 delegates – Total floor space exceeding 26,000 sqm – 1,500-seat auditorium – Exhibition hall 4,000 sqm: the largest pillar-free ballroom in Europe capable of hosting up to 2,400 people for a gala dinner – Meeting rooms for up to 1,000 theatre-style – 2,500 sqm outdoor plaza space – Two minutes from the M4 motorway
Ian Edwards, CEO, ICC Wales We’ve proven we can deliver large scale, prestigious events; now we have the infrastructure to root ourselves on the world convention stage. We have the Hospitality and Catering Expo confirmed as our opening event, the Alzheimer’s Congress booked for 2020 and around £8 million of enquiries already on the books. We listened to organisers and we are delivering what they want: an amazing convention centre able to deliver the perfect conference. Most importantly, we have our Team Wales approach – we all work together to ensure success.
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ADVANCED MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING
With a long and proud history in inventing and manufacturing, Wales today is at the forefront of some of the most exciting new developments and innovations in advanced materials and manufacturing. WORKING TOGETHER
Benefitting from exceptionally strong links between business, industry and academia, Wales produces leading research projects in areas such as composite materials and low carbon technologies and a skilled, industry- ready workforce developed in response to the needs of industry. Productivity in the advanced manufacturing and automotive sector is higher than the equivalent sector at the UK level. Companies enjoy government and agency support, some of the UK’s highest financial incentives and established enterprise zones. The aerospace and automotive industries between them turn over more than £8 billion per year and both offer networking and support for business through Aerospace and Automotive Forums. Key strengths Professor Karen Holford, Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Cardiff University Partnerships between industry, business and academia are key. Here at Cardiff University we have a strong record of partnership between Airbus, the University and the Welsh Government. A great example is the Morgan-Botti Lightning Laboratory, established in 2011, where we conduct wide- ranging research into lightning and its interaction with materials and structures, with a particular focus on aerospace applications. This is really important now because of the new composite materials we’re using. Airbus can implement our findings in their manufacturing in North Wales. We have recently announced a further collaboration with the Airbus Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Analytics. When both industry and the Welsh Government identified a gap in software and programming skills, Cardiff University responded by developing the National Software Academy (NSA), offering innovative degrees. At the NSA we teach students in a completely different way, with a moving and developing curriculum responding to the needs of a really fast growing industry.
The students work in an office-based culture on projects that companies bring in, and when they come up against an academic skill they don’t yet have, we take them out into the classroom and teach them. By the time they graduate, they are not only industry-ready but also equipped with additional skills, such as project management, that they will need. “As academics, we hold meetings with people from all over the world. One thing I’ve noticed is that when people come here they say: “Wow! I didn’t know that this was here, I didn’t know that Wales was so beautiful.” It is lovely, from the coastlines, beautiful beaches, mountains and cities across Wales, academic visitors love the castle, the parks and are amazed Cardiff has so much to offer culturally. It is so close to London and the airports. It’s about accessibility – and having a great time while they are here.” Karen Holford
Automotive With more than £200 million investment committed in Wales in the last three years, and the exciting news that Aston Martin are locating in Wales and TVR are considering Wales for their latest developments, the automotive industry is celebrating growing success. Ford in South Wales has produced more than 20 million engines here, and Mid Wales is home to Riversimple’s first zero emission car. Development of Toyota’s latest hybrid engine in North Wales brings total investment at their Deeside engine plant to c. £700 million. Added to this, more than 150 components companies such as Schaeffler and Calsonic Kansei are based in Wales.
Tim Williams, Welsh Automotive Forum The automotive sector employs more than 19,000 people; we have 40 international companies, 100 SMEs and turnover of around £3.5 billion – so we are very important to the economy. And now, of course, we have Aston Martin coming and TVR considering Wales. We hold a yearly conference, Autolink, for people in the sector who come from all over. For businesses, Wales offers a tremendous package of support through the Welsh Government and support agencies: capital, technology, innovation and skills and a ready-made network in the 140 companies already in place, plus a fantastic location and great connectivity. As the industry transitions into new vehicles and technologies of the future, companies are working closely with universities on research and development. As legislation changes, transportation companies in Wales are well placed to take advantage.
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Aerospace The aerospace industry has attracted some of the world’s leading companies to Wales, including BAE Systems, British Airways, GE Aviation, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Zodiac Seats and Qioptiq. Airbus Group in North Wales employs 6,500 people in its civilian aircraft wing plant. Wales is a cornerstone of UK defence operations: the segregated airspace for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) was a world-first.
Joining a family John Whalley, Aerospace Wales Forum We have 10 per cent of the aerospace population in Wales, so we punch well above our weight. We have great partnerships: Wrexham Glyndwr University in North Wales works closely with Airbus and smaller companies, and trains students and Airbus personnel. In the space sector we have WASP (Wales Academic Space Partnership) working on earth observation and space robotics. Wales is great for companies. If you come to Wales you are not just setting up a factory, but joining a family. You’ll get lots of support from government, institutions and universities. It’s a great time to be here, we’ve got one of the world’s leading manufacturers and, on the horizon, we have hybrid electric aircraft and UAVs (drones) bringing new James Davies, Chair, Industry Wales Traditional industries, or sectors, are changing dramatically, so business, industry and government have to change at the same time. It’s important to break down the silos between traditional markets to achieve synergies. Digital is a very important part of that, as both an enabler and an innovative process for achieving new products and services. In the future, academia, government, entrepreneurs, funders and industry will work collaboratively to ensure that there is an added value manufacturing and technology sector in Wales. During 2018 we want to establish a conference that draws the new types of industries we will have in the future together. opportunities to Wales. Thinking ahead
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ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
MAKING WAVES Sustainability is at the heart of policy in Wales. One of the first countries in the world to have it written in its statute, the energy and environment sector is central to Wales’ planned development.
As a low carbon economy, Wales has a renewable electricity target of 70 per cent by 2030. Currently, around 58,000 people work in the sector, generating more than £4.8 billion in revenue, figures which are set to increase dramatically. The huge importance and potential for growth is reflected in RenewableUK’s estimate of a sector worth more than £4 billion to UK GDP by 2050. Marine energy is one of the key renewable energies, and Wales’ geographic position makes the wave and tidal sector a priority. Wales has the second highest tidal range in the world, and with the Severn Estuary included, there is potential to generate around 10 GW from marine energy. Wales’ deep sea ports are equipped to support renewable projects. The success of the sector in Wales is evidenced by the serious funding it is attracting. The Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) has recently extended funding for several key research projects including SEACAMS 2 - a £17 million, three-year project at Bangor and Swansea Universities set to develop a network of coastal observatories to collect high-quality data and ensure its availability to potential developers, while Mentor Môn’s £5.6 million Morlais scheme in Anglesey, North Wales, designed to accelerate the development and commercialisation of multiple tidal stream technologies in the Morlais Demonstration Zone has received £4.5 million of EU and Welsh Government funding. The rapid growth and exciting innovations in the sector are attracting increasing numbers of companies, helped by SEACAMS, through which they can access vital research support necessary to progress multi- million pound developments. There are a growing number of device developers based in Wales, including Minesto, Marine Power Systems and wave-tricity, which has recently secured a £4 million funding award from WEFO.
SEACAMS
provide them with our research expertise and help them to grow the industry. Over the last decade or so the Welsh Government has encouraged the research sector to really link up. We are in Bangor University, but work with colleagues across the whole of Wales including Swansea, Cardiff, Aberystwyth and others and are also connected with agencies such as Natural Resources Wales. The collaboration we have is possibly greater than in many other parts of the world. We are world leaders in this area and our scientists play a big part in national and international conferences, including the biggest Ocean Science meetings in the world, the European and American Geophysical Unions. For companies, Wales is a very stimulating place to work and a very easy place in which to gain access to local and national government. Wales is a great place to live, and scenically it’s really beautiful. As far as I’m concerned, it’s got everything.
Prof Colin Jago, Bangor University The wave and tidal sector is potentially really important for Wales. Marine renewable energy is a key component of the government’s drive to become a leader in low carbon energy: the marine reserve could provide 20 – 30 per cent of the UK’s energy requirements. It’s a very challenging industry; nevertheless the potential gains for Wales are enormous because of the magnitude of the resource. The Crown Estate has designated two demonstration zones, managed and co-ordinated so that a range of companies can develop innovative ideas, and also so that they can be connected to the national grid, which is really important. We also have huge potential for tidal range energy by building tidal lagoons. We have plans to construct them in Swansea, Cardiff, Newport in South Wales and Colwyn Bay in North Wales. They could generate around 9 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs. At SEACAMS our remit is to work with businesses in the sector, to
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Marine Energy Wales Marine Energy Wales brings together technology developers, the supply chain, academia and the public sector to establish Wales as a global leader in sustainable marine energy generation. With €100.4 million of EU structural funding prioritised for marine energy in Wales over the next five years, two wave and tidal stream Demonstration Zones, seabed agreements in place for three wave and tidal stream projects, and a number of proposals for significant tidal range projects, Wales is well positioned to play a leading role in marine energy. Over the past six years, working group membership has expanded from eight original members to present levels of 80, which include tier 1 Welsh supply chain companies and all relevant UK organisations. There are 23 technology and project developers engaged including world leading companies from Sweden, Australia, Singapore, Scotland, Canada and America. MARINE ENERGY WALES Annual Conference 2017 The Marine Energy Wales Annual Conference attracted record numbers in 2017 showcasing the progress being made in Wales as well as outlining future plans and opportunities with a focus on supply chain, clusters and innovation.
The £1.3 billion Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon is the largest marine energy development in the world. The first of its kind, it is creating a global, green energy opportunity, and has the potential to put Wales on the map as a world leader in tidal energy. It is estimated that it could provide a Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon
renewable form of energy to 155,000 homes in Wales for the next 120 years and could form the basis of a scalable blueprint for up to six further tidal lagoons to be built around the coast of Britain generating large-scale renewable energy at a relatively low cost.
WALES VII
LIFE SCIENCES
The Life Sciences sector in Wales is internationally recognised for research and development and is one of Wales’ fastest growing and most innovative sectors. CLUSTERS OF EXCELLENCE
With around 11,000 people working in more than 350 companies, the life sciences sector is attracting companies from small start-ups to global businesses with the funding, support and skilled workforce available. With a strong competitive advantage in regenerative medicine and cell therapy, including excellence in stem cell research led by Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir Martin Evans, Wales is the only nation with a £100m dedicated Life Sciences Fund and a central Life Sciences Hub, and is home to Europe’s
first centre for Nano-Health. Home to some of the world’s most progressive companies within the life sciences industry, including ReNeuron, Trakcel, Zimmer Biomet and PCI Pharma, Wales has developed established clusters of excellence in high-growth markets including In vitro diagnostic, medical devices, single use technology and wound care. To help the commercialisation of research, a unique £3 million Bridging Fund aims to accelerate the application of Life Science Research while the
SMARTCymru Research, Development and Innovation scheme offers up to £200,000 support for start-up businesses and SMEs. Excellent academic research facilities and incubators include the Institute of Life Sciences, Cardiff Medicentre and GE Innovation Village. Already home to BioWales, one of the largest life sciences conferences in the UK, Wales is a fantastic choice for conferences and events in the life sciences sector, providing access to cutting edge research and innovative applications. Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre The new £44m CUBRIC opened in March 2016. Housing a combination of neuroimaging equipment unique within Europe, CUBRIC continues to further its world-leading research which has already established Cardiff University as one of the UK’s top three universities for Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience. With an open approach to research proposals, CUBRIC works with both academics and industry partners on brain stimulation technologies, including pharmaceutical companies investigating the effects of experimental medicines.
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The Life Sciences Hub This dedicated venue connects academia, industry, the health service, government, professional services and funding organisations. With facilities including an auditorium, hot desks and meeting rooms, the Hub acts as a front door for the sector, providing co-ordinated support, networking opportunities and professional advice stimulating innovation, collaboration and investment.
Case history Dr Angela Osborne, MD eXmoor Pharma The ATMP (advanced therapy medicinal products) Manufacturing Community (amc) – is becoming the industry body for advanced therapies manufacturing; it’s a really new industry and there’s nothing else quite like the amc in the whole of Europe. We hold two conferences a year for around 100 people; this one was focused on gene therapies. We like to move around and not be London-centric; it was an obvious choice to return to Wales for October 2017 as it had been so easy the first time around. I was put in touch with the Hub who said yes immediately and sorted everything out. The Hub made a lot of sense as a venue; the cabaret seating suited us and put sponsors close to delegates. It’s been a very effective and easy venue. Cardiff is relatively straightforward for everybody to get to and Wales for events is very easy in terms of transport links and venues.
Cari-Anne Quinn, Interim CEO, Life Sciences Hub Wales The Life Sciences Hub Wales creates a unique opportunity to bring all the groups in the sector together and generate economic growth. We’ve had a lot of successes at the Hub. For example, the international company Zimmer Biomet worked closely with a South Wales hospital to really transform the delivery of orthopaedic surgery, drawing on lessons from the automotive industry and considering LEAN processes around surgeries. As a result, the change in process has further improved patient outcomes at the hospital, increased the number of orthopaedic surgeries per day, reduced patient time in surgery and recovery, and driven efficiency savings. Wales is already a very successful area for foreign direct investment and the networks and clusters we have developed are a real draw for other companies. Our NHS is compact and organised to be accessible, which is something fairly unique, making us a great location across mainland Europe for clinical trials; while our government offers very attractive support packages in addition to the grant and skills support available. For meetings we have great cities, hotels and infrastructure, we host one of the UK’s largest annual Life Sciences conferences, BioWales, which attracts 800 delegates from around the world. It’s a real success for us, it’s grown year on year and demonstrates how easy it is to bring international delegates here.
The Welsh Wound Innovation Centre (WWIC)
The WWIC is the first national wound healing centre worldwide and is the flagship facility for clinical innovation in Wales. The £4 million research hub is devoted to tackling wound care
with academic excellence in wound prevention and treatment. Professor Keith Harding, WWIC There are a number of research and innovation initiatives ongoing in Wales, including the setting up of the Clinical Innovation Partnership between Cardiff University and Cardiff & Vale UHB; their purchase of the Medicentre has increased its incubator use and it is likely to be full by December 2017. The creation of a large bid to WEFO to create a Life Science Ecosystem along the M4 corridor is at the final stages of submission. The creation of a respiratory disease innovation centre modelled on WWIC in Llanelli is undergoing review for funding. The importance of Impact of research in Research Excellence Framework reviews has provided a boost of interest as has the NHS in Wales clearly stating that they support such work. The presence of a significant number of companies in the life science sector and their ability to act as a magnet for other inward investment is huge.
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TECHNOLOGY
Ranging from a cutting-edge cyber security industry to world-leading innovation in compound semiconductors, Wales’ growing expertise and dynamic outlook in the tech sector is attracting an increasing number of businesses.
DEVELOPING A DIGITAL FUTURE
COINNOVATE 2018 Returning to Wales in January next year, Coinnovate is a unique event designed to bring the world’s leading innovators together in the spirit of collaboration. Its focus is on advancing practices in industries such as Aerospace, Life Sciences and Power, Energy and Transport. Set across two action-packed days, members from academia, SMEs and the industrial community work hand–in-hand with investors to share best practices, pitch technologies and explore market-led opportunities presented by world-leading organisations. Innovative solutions Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology is little known, but it affects lives every day: water and power distribution systems, sewerage, waste management and transport all depend on SCADA. When hackers took out the Ukranian power grid two years ago, Airbus challenged Professor Blyth’s group to find a way to carry out forensics on SCADA systems. “Nobody then could carry out forensics on SCADA. We developed that capability and are currently the only university in the UK that can deliver those forensics. That has positioned us globally; now we are talking to the US FBI, Homeland Security, NSA and applied research to find solutions, and transfer the technology back to them so that they can immediately exploit it. This is positioning Wales as a centre of excellence in the field. the Department of Defence about transferring that capability out to industry.”
Currently home to 3,000 tech businesses, from dynamic and innovative start-ups like Amplyfi, to some of the biggest, such as BT, Thales, Qinetiq, Airbus Defence & Space and General Dynamics, the tech sector in Wales also boasts 400 electronics businesses, more than 250 telecoms-related companies and a workforce of 40,000 contributing £8 billion a year to the Welsh economy. The close collaboration between industry and academia has attracted big name companies such as Alert Logic, Bipsync, HCI Group and IQE, choosing Wales for government support, entrepreneurial universities, competitive costs, connectivity and for the highly skilled graduate workforce. Busy developing the future, Cardiff University’s National Software Academy produces industry-ready software engineering graduates, the Alacrity Foundation produces the next generation of entrepreneurs, Innovation Point finds ideas and funds entrepreneurs and Cardiff Start, Wales’s largest start up community, connects entrepreneurs. In 2020, Cardiff Metropolitan will open the new Cardiff School of Technologies, specialising in digital media, data science and design technologies. The £1.28 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal plans include a series of measures aiming to drive digital innovation across South East Wales. In Swansea, the Swansea Bay City Region’s £500 million deal aims to transform the region into a digital super-hub building on the strengths of Swansea University and the Tidal Lagoon project. The concentration density of such a high calibre, innovative, fast-developing and exciting tech sector within a compact country makes Wales an ideal destination for meetings connected to the sector.
Cyber security The UK centre for cyber, the South Wales region has the largest cluster of cyber companies and is acknowledged as the prime location for R&D and the onward commercialism of defence and security products and services. Centres of excellence include the Information Security Research Group at the University of South Wales, the Airbus Group Endeavr Wales, the National Cyber Security Academy, launched last year in collaboration with Innovation Point to educate highly-skilled cyber security graduates for the future, and opened this year: The Airbus Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Analytics, the first of its kind in Europe.
Professor Andrew Blyth, Head of Information Security Research Group, University of South Wales We are the only university in the UK to have Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) accreditation for computer forensics. This makes us unique and well positioned for delivering the skills and services that the cyber security sector needs. Industry, from both Wales and globally, comes to us year after year to employ our graduates, including Microsoft and Google. Collaboration is key. We work with the cyber security sector to identify their problems and then do
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Compound semiconductors (CSC) New compound semiconductors outperform silicon in many new and emerging application areas; CSC technology is at the heart of the next industrial revolution, integral to the development of smartphones, Wi-Fi, satellite communication systems, robotics and efficient LEDs among others. Companies at the cutting edge in Wales include Microsemi Corporation, SPTS Techologies and IQE, which has a 55 per cent global market share in CSC technology, and is leading the way in developing the global market and spearheading the development in Wales. Last year, the UK Government announced an annual £10 million of government support until 2020/21 for a new Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult based in Cardiff, a world-class, open access R&D facility to help UK businesses exploit advances in compound semiconductor technologies across key application areas such as healthcare, the digital economy, energy, transport, defence and security, and space.
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WALES KEY FACTS – Population: 3 million. – Devolved government with a First Minister, Cabinet and elected Assembly. – A diverse geography and offers a great work-life balance. – Three National Parks which cover 20 per cent of the country's land mass and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. – Its own language and distinctive culture. – Well served by its eight universities, some of which rank in the top 8 per cent of UK league tables for many subjects. – Businesses that come to Wales have easy access to the UK market, with its population of 65 million people. visitwales.com/businessevents tradeandinvest.wales xplore4.com/intellectualcapitals/wales
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