GUEST COLUMN:
Ian Mabbett
Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for Research Culture
Swansea University
Swansea Bay has the research strength, industrial relevance and entrepreneurial activity to stand alongside some of the UK’s best-known innovation economies. We can rightly compare ourselves with places such as Greater Manchester and the innovation ecosystem surrounding Imperial College London.
Swansea University is fourth in the UK for spin-outs and among the top ten for student start-ups, while the wider region has internationally recognised capability in materials, energy, digital technologies, health technology, sports technology and medical technology.
Our challenge is that those strengths are not yet converted into commercial growth quite consistently enough.
Imperial offers a useful benchmark. Start-ups emerging from one of its accelerators have raised £1.3 billion in private investment since 2012. Swansea Bay is not operating at that scale, but the comparison shows what becomes possible when research capability, finance, markets and commercial support are connected effectively.
The issue is not a lack of ideas or technical expertise. It is the mechanism that links industrial demand with research capability and then supports a business through the stages required to grow.
Universities are often inclined to begin with what they can supply: a facility, a research programme or a particular area of expertise. A stronger approach starts with the commercial or industrial problem and then aligns the right people, infrastructure and finance around it.
That demand-led model can help surface capability that is not always visible through conventional measures. South West Wales contains a great deal of talent that does not necessarily appear in national rankings or datasets, including people whose routes into innovation have not followed a traditional academic path.
Universities can play an important role in finding and connecting that talent. Swansea University was founded by industry for industry, and that history should continue to shape how we approach research and innovation today.
Commercialisation also depends on what happens after a company is formed. Swansea Bay produces start-ups, but those businesses need local routes to scale. If they can only secure finance, suitable premises or management expertise by relocating, the region loses much of the value it helped to create.
The infrastructure developed through the Swansea Bay City Deal is beginning to address that. Innovation spaces, specialist facilities and stronger links between universities and businesses give companies more reasons to remain and grow in the region.
Confidence is equally important. Our peers should be innovation-led regions across the UK and beyond. That does not mean treating Greater Manchester, London or other leading centres solely as competitors; the aim should be to continue to build equitable relationships with them.
The strongest innovation regions collaborate because each has specialist capability the others value. Swansea Bay should be seen as a place that leading universities, investors and companies need to work with, rather than somewhere seeking occasional support or inclusion from larger institutions.
That shift depends on the region defining what makes its offer distinctive and demonstrating commercial outcomes. It also requires stronger networks of trust, because introductions between businesses, universities and investors only work when each partner has confidence in the others.
Those relationships are maturing. Businesses, universities, public bodies and investors are already working together more closely, while showcase events and innovation programmes are bringing more of the region’s capability into view.
The next stage is to increase the scale and consistency of that activity, ensuring the right investors and commercial partners are involved from the outset.
Swansea Bay has already shown that it can generate ideas and create new businesses. Its place among the UK’s leading innovation economies will be secured by how many of those businesses can scale, attract serious investment and build their future in the region.
