0.1 Regions and clusters  (Page 9/15)

The strategy is built around a vision that clearly reflects the ambition to develop a strong and vibrant Knowledge-Based economy in Wales (WAG 2001):

“To achieve a prosperous Welsh economy that is dynamic, inclusive and sustainable, based on successful, innovative businesses with highly skilled, well-motivated people”

To realise this vision the strategy (WAG 2001) outlines the key targets, again reflecting the agenda of a knowledge-based economy:

• Raising total employment by 135,000.
• Improving enterprise and innovation.
• Raising not just skill levels but learning performance at every level.
• Ensuring Wales uses world-class electronic communications to their full potential.

In order to achieve these, the Strategy outlines key requirements including:

• Improving rates of new business formation.
• Addressing under representation of rapidly growing sectors such as financial and business services.
• Building upon strengths in key sectors including aerospace, opto-electronics and automotive.

In 2003 WAG published an Annual Report (WAG 2003a) on the progress towards fulfilling the vision of ‘A Winning Wales’ (WAG 2001), prior to delivering an updated version of the strategy in 2004 (WAG). This reinforced the WAG objective of bringing the prosperity of Wales to 90% of the UK level within a decade and in line with that of the UK within a generation.

‘A Winning Wales’ has also been recently supplemented by Wales: A Vibrant Economy’ (WAG 2005b) which presents WAG’s ‘Strategic Framework for Economic Development’. This further reinforces the agenda of the Knowledge Economy, with specific regard to the West Wales and the Valleys region, with its focus on:

• Promoting the knowledge economy, by fostering research, technology and innovation, building a stronger entrepreneurial environment, supporting the development of clusters/centres of excellence in key sectors and improving access to business finance.
• Improving skills levels, both as a means of tackling innovation and providing the skills for higher value-added employment. This will include supplying young people and new entrants to the labour market with the skills needed to in turn develop the skills and qualifications needed for more senior jobs in the economy.

Wales for innovation - innovation action plan

The Innovation Action Plan aims to set out how innovation can be fostered in Wales to help deliver the Knowledge Economy aspired to in ‘A Winning Wales’ (WAG 2001). Actions proposed by the plan consist of five groupings namely;

• Communicating what can be achieved through more innovation.
• Developing more high growth potential businesses.
• Better equipping people to innovate.
• Simpler, more accessible, business innovation support.
• Maximising the economic development impact of our universities and colleges.

Core to the Plan is the further development of the ‘Technium’ initiative where the plans for this pan-Wales network were described with a pledge to invest “ up to £150m…rolling out across Wales … (to) act as innovation focal points within their regions ”.