Call for greater collaboration between business and science

Apr 17 2008 by David Williamson, Western Mail

DEPUTY First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones yesterday said a “wind of change” was sweeping through Wales, bringing scientists and entrepreneurs together.

His comments follow criticism last week from leading technology developer Simon Gibson, chief executive of Sir Terry Matthews’ venture capital outfit Wesley Clover, who described his disappointment that the Assembly Government had not taken forward his recommendations.

In a report on how businesses and universities could work together, Mr Gibson had called for the creation of panels of international experts who would search Welsh institutions for inventions with commercial value.

Mr Gibson said he feared his report had fallen into “a hole” but yesterday Mr Jones said he “wholeheartedly” accepted the recommendations.

He told a cross-party group of Assembly Members on the Enterprise and Learning Committee: “I wish to say his work is extremely valuable to the department.”

He added he was “very sorry” the impression had been given that the report had not shaped strategy and said he would write to Mr Gibson.

Labour AM Sandy Mewies called on the Plaid Cymru minister to embrace the vision of independent experts.

She said: “I don’t really understand why you set people up to do work like that and they can come to a committee like this and say to us: ‘Nothing’s happened [and] we’re being blocked.”

Ms Mewies wants the experts to act as “football scouts”, adding: “Are they going to be able to act in a way themselves that is independent and just get on with it or are they going to have to go through hoops to do what they do?”

Mr Jones said he wanted the panels to believe they had the freedom to make a real contribution, and took inspiration from Michael Moritz – the Welsh-born investor in Google and Yahoo! who is now based in California.

He said the software entrepreneur had described the close relationship enjoyed between academic innovators and entrepreneurs, and he urged Welsh counterparts to follow this example.

Mr Jones said: “I’m detecting there is a wind of change here, not only among the business community but also amongst the higher education institutions themselves.”

Describing the transformation in collaboration which needs to take place, he said: “They know they need to raise their game. We as a nation need to raise our game.”

He also anticipates close cooperation between his own economic development department and education.

“We believe that by pooling our resources as two departments we can have more bang for our buck,” he said.

But he also called for strategic thinking about how best to target resources, saying: “We have to now understand in the global climate where we are we can’t do everything, we can’t conduct research into everything, we have to pick things that fit with the current needs of the Welsh economy.”

Conservative AM David Melding was anxious that the creativity of business people involved in the initiative would not be stifled.

He said: “I’ve not sensed the freedom and panache that would lead to a better business culture in the universities, particularly around science and technology... I think what they need to do is go in and see the ideas people were having and then come up with completely different applications.”

Jeff Cuthbert, a Labour member of the committee, welcomed the Deputy First Minister’s comments. He said, “There was a clear acknowledgement the Gibson report is now fundamental to the Deputy First Minister’s thinking.”

He called for the development of a “responsive and aggressive” higher education sector with a new emphasis on teaching entrepreneurial skills.

Mr Cuthbert said he had been frustrated that the report had not been given the attention it deserved but said he was confident measures were in place to ensure “that won’t happen again”.