GUEST COLUMN:
Cllr Clive Davies
Cabinet Member for Economy, Regeneration and Carbon Management
Ceredigion County Council
Digital opportunity in Mid Wales is not about one piece of infrastructure, one training course or one employer. It is about how those pieces connect. If businesses are to make full use of new technologies, and if young people are to see a future for themselves in the region, connectivity, skills and routes into employment have to develop together.
This is a central part of the Growing Mid Wales effort. Digital infrastructure is critical, because businesses and communities need access to the platform on which so much of modern working life now depends. Connectivity across the region is varied, and the aim is to create a more level playing field across Mid Wales, so that more people and businesses have equal access to the infrastructure now required.
Digital infrastructure is becoming more important all the time. Businesses are working with larger data sets, using more digital tools and looking at new ways to improve services, reach customers and make decisions. Even basic digital skills now sit much closer to the centre of business life than they once did. Data handling is a good example; employers are seeing a stronger need for people who can work with information confidently and understand how it can be used.
AI is also beginning to change what is possible. From my own experience in Ceredigion, we have been able to use large data sets and interpret information on behalf of small businesses across towns and the wider region. Location analytics, for example, can help us understand how places are being used and how that insight can support the economic prosperity of small market towns. The technology is not distant from day-to-day local economic development; it is already becoming part of it.
Mid Wales is working hard to bring these elements together. Infrastructure on its own will not be enough, and neither will skills provision if businesses cannot access the connectivity they need. The real value comes from marrying infrastructure, skills and opportunities in a way that works for a rural region.
There is already a great deal of infrastructure development taking place through UK Government, Welsh Government and regional activity. Part of the work now is identifying where the remaining gaps are and how they can be addressed, whether that is fibre, mobile connectivity or other forms of provision. In rural areas, that is not always simple, but the tools available are changing as well. Low earth orbit satellite broadband is already meeting the needs of some businesses in rural Wales where other forms of connectivity are more difficult.
The same principle applies to skills. We need to improve visibility of the training options already available, expand flexible learning and strengthen collaboration between education providers and employers. For many people, the routes into digital skills have not always been clear enough, particularly when it comes to apprenticeships and local provision. That is changing, and the work of the Regional Skills Partnership, alongside employers and education partners, will help make those pathways easier to understand.
This is particularly important for school pupils and school leavers. If young people are to see digital careers and digital skills as relevant to them, they need to be able to understand the opportunities early and see examples close to home. Just up the road from me, there is a tech company that has taken on three apprentices from the local school. They work on 3D printing and design and programme drones for a range of uses, and this is exactly the kind of example that shows young people what is possible.
It also shows why the link between education and employment is so important. Apprenticeships, flexible learning, online provision and direct employer engagement all have a role to play, and so we need pathways that make sense to pupils, parents, teachers and businesses, so that digital skills are not seen as abstract or remote but as a practical route into work and progression.
For SMEs, the same clarity is needed. Smaller businesses may not always have the time or resource to navigate a complex skills landscape, but they are often the businesses that could benefit significantly from better digital capability. Support has to be visible, practical and flexible enough to fit the realities of how those businesses operate.
Leadership capability is part of this as well. Digital adoption is not only about training staff to use a particular tool. It is about helping businesses make decisions, understand risk, identify opportunities and lead change. That will become increasingly important as technologies such as AI, data analytics and advanced connectivity become more common across different sectors.
Mid Wales has all the ingredients for success: committed employers, strong communities and a growing digital ambition. The task we are now collectively undertaking is to connect the pieces more effectively so that infrastructure investment, skills development and employment pathways reinforce each other.
Clive talks about this and more on the Unlocking Mid Wales podcast. Listen here:
