Innovation is a word that can mean many things. At Mentera, we see it as an opportunity but also a responsibility.
We work closely with businesses across Wales and beyond – businesses facing a wide range of opportunities and challenges, often at the same time. Whether it’s navigating economic uncertainty, responding to environmental demands, or making sense of rapid technological change, many of the organisations we support are having to rethink the way they work. Helping them do that effectively means making sure we’re evolving too.
That’s why we’ve taken deliberate steps to make innovation part of how we operate, not just in what we encourage others to do, but in how we deliver support, develop new services and adapt to changing markets ourselves.
We don’t believe innovation is always about disruption or breakthrough technologies. Often, it’s about working more intelligently, drawing on evidence, applying creativity, and responding to what businesses actually need in real time. It’s about making meaningful improvements and having the confidence to try new ideas when the usual solutions no longer apply.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen that confidence in action in communities across Wales. We’ve seen farms invest in regenerative methods, food producers make strides in sustainable packaging, and start-ups push into global markets from rural bases. Our role is to create the conditions that allow more of that to happen by offering practical, accessible and timely support that matches the pace of change.
That’s only possible if we’re agile ourselves. Like the businesses we work with, we’ve had to adapt to post-pandemic ways of working, respond to the realities of tighter public spending, and find smarter ways to deliver value. We've also expanded our own expertise, launched new consultancy services, and explored how technology can help us connect with more people in more meaningful ways. Whether it’s through hybrid events, improved digital delivery or new sector-specific packages, we’re focused on making support more relevant and more responsive.
We’ve also worked to ensure our approach is inclusive and sustainable. Innovation isn’t just about growth – it’s about long-term resilience. And that means recognising the role that culture, language and place play in the success of businesses in Wales. It means developing services that reflect the realities of different communities, sectors and stages of business life. And it means helping people not just to survive uncertainty, but to shape their own future with confidence.
There’s a great deal of ambition in the Welsh economy, and we see that every day in the businesses we support. But to turn ambition into impact, support structures need to keep evolving too. Our job at Mentera is to stay close enough to the real challenges to understand them – and forward-thinking enough to anticipate what’s coming next.
That’s why we continue to invest in our own capability to innovate, expanding into new sectors where we can add value, strengthening our partnerships across Wales and beyond, and finding new ways to make business support more effective.
As the pace of change continues to accelerate – technologically, environmentally and economically – businesses will need to be more adaptive than ever. Our job is to help them do that with clarity, confidence and purpose. We can only do that if we keep adapting ourselves.
Llŷr Roberts talks about this and more in the Mentera podcast episode Beyond Business as Usual: Fuelling Growth with Innovation. Listen to the podcast here.
