Wales Must Build Skills Pathways Into the Innovation Economy

A young person choosing between a university degree, a degree apprenticeship or a route straight into work is not thinking in institutional categories. They are thinking about whether the skills they build will still have value when they reach the labour market. Or put simply, “will it get me a job”.

That should be the starting point for Wales. We need a skills pathway coherent enough to help people move from school into further learning, higher education, apprenticeships, start-ups or industry without getting lost between the gaps.

At the moment, we have too many gaps. Wales has strong institutions, research capability, colleges, universities and training providers, as well as sectors with real potential. But the system itself needs a radical overhaul if we are going to connect those strengths properly.

I work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital risk, and I have seen what happens when research, industry and skills are properly joined together. At Cardiff University, we have developed industry-led Master’s programmes around cyber and the interface between cyber and AI, working with employers to shape curriculum and connect learners to real demand.

Through the Cyber Innovation Hub, part-funded by Welsh Government and Cardiff Capital Region, we are working to grow the cyber and AI sector in Wales through support and mentoring to take bright ideas into startups, and support upskilling across areas ranging from board-level cybersecurity to deep technical industrial control system security. Skills are not an abstract policy area in cyber and AI. They shape whether Wales can build companies, attract investment, protect critical systems and develop the capability needed for a more digitally dependent economy.

I have also seen this from the industry side. I spent six years embedded in Airbus, leading an AI for cyber innovation programme across Europe, and helped establish Airbus’ global Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Analytics at Cardiff University. That kind of academic-industry partnership shows what is possible when businesses bring real challenges and universities bring research capability, talent and technical depth.

But too often, those partnerships sit in particular parts of the system rather than being connected into a broader national pathway.

Large employers come to universities for research talent, placement students, academic expertise, innovation challenges and start-up opportunities. That can produce economic value. Companies such as Airbus and PwC have fed directly into industry-led Master’s programmes, helping to curate curriculum around the skills they need. We have also seen targeted support for people from disadvantaged backgrounds and female students to access these routes.

Those interventions are valuable, but they are still too small and too disconnected from what happens earlier. We cannot only begin thinking about advanced digital skills when someone reaches university. By then, many young people will already have made choices or missed exposure to the opportunities that might have interested them.

The 14 to 18 phase is critical. Too many young people are not exposed what it looks like to build a career or a business in AI, cyber, and wider technology early enough. That is not a criticism of individual schools – it is a problem with the system and the state of play in the pathways young people are expected to follow at present.

A learner should not feel as if they are stepping from one disconnected institution to another. They should be able to see a range of pathways and feel part of a system that helps them move towards the right destination, whether that is big industry, further study, a degree apprenticeship, a start-up or a technical career. We have outstanding people in Wales who have trodden the pathways to these destinations previously – but are we understanding what these journeys looked like and making the next generation aware how they can get there?

This also means being honest about collaboration. People often say the age of competition between academic institutions is over. It is not. Universities, colleges and other providers are all under financial pressure, and they are competing for limited resources. We cannot simply expect collaboration to happen organically when institutions are fighting for survival.

If Wales wants a more joined-up skills system, those funding the education system have a role in creating the conditions for it. That could mean looking differently at funding models, incentives and the way resources are allocated, so collaboration is rewarded where it supports a clear pathway for learners and a stronger pipeline for the economy.

This has to recognise regional differences. South East Wales is not the same as South West Wales, and North Wales and Mid Wales have their own conditions and needs. A national plan should not mean identical interventions everywhere. It should mean shared direction, better alignment and the ability to learn from what works.

The need for change is becoming more urgent because AI is moving quickly. Wales is set to have AI growth zones in South Wales and North Wales, and there is an opportunity to think practically about how AI can grow the existing economy, not just create new companies in isolation.

Wales has the research base, industrial relationships, emerging start-up ecosystem and public investment to do something significant in AI, cyber and digital innovation. But we will not get there by tinkering around the edges of the skills system.

We need a system-level pathway from school through tertiary education and into industry, entrepreneurship and lifelong learning. Innovation can grow the Welsh economy, but only if the skills system is built to carry people into it.