MIKE HEDGES SPEAKS UP FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSITIES IN DRIVING THE ECONOMY

MIKE HEDGES SPEAKS UP FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSITIES IN DRIVING THE ECONOMY

Speaking after the Senedd debate, local Swansea East MS Mike Hedges said.. ‘ we know from examples all over the world that universities can drive economic development across both local and national economies. We need to ensure that Wales leads this process in the UK through establishing clear links between Welsh Universities and the business community in Wales.

Closer links between Universities and business is a proven way to develop and drive an economy and the potential is there for Welsh Universities to be real drivers of economic development in our country.

I will continue to campaign for the Welsh Government to do all it can to promote this partnership.

Mike Hedges MS18:23:36

Thanks to Tom Giffard for giving me a minute in this debate. Successful regions and countries in the world use their universities as economic drivers—Cambridge, Bristol and Warwickshire, amongst others in England, and California, Denmark and Germany, which are economically successful, benefit from their universities, such as Stanford, Heidelberg and Aarhus. We have outstanding universities in Wales. We need to use them more effectively. The development of science parks by universities and the development of university schools of entrepreneurship have helped developed economies throughout the world.500

A major growth area in the world economy is life sciences. This has got to be a priority. It’s meant to be a priority of the Welsh Government, but it really does have to play a more important part. Universities can play a key role in developing further the Welsh life sciences industry. And unlike other parts of the UK, the activity investment isn’t concentrated in just one wealthy area or region. The growth of the life sciences sector in Wales spans the length and breadth of the country, from harvesting jellyfish collagen in the west to a foundation for cutting-edge infantile prosthetics in the north. If this can work, we need to make it work.