Date: 2006-02-23 Category: News

Government called on for ’intelligent science policy’

Leading business entrepreneurs have called on the Welsh Assembly Government to create a more coherent science policy, the Western Mail reported.

An intelligent policy would help Wales’ most creative companies become successful enterprises and would give them leverage to compete on a global scale, experts said.

The comments came as last month a consultation was launched to ask if the Assembly Government should formulate a science policy.

In a foreword first minister Rhodri Morgan said: "Whereas 30 plus years ago, when the UK joined the then common market, Wales could legitimately claim to be the lowest cost location for Japanese multinationals to assemble television sets and microwave ovens inside the EEC tariff barriers, it certainly is not true now.

"The Far East tiger economies are industrialising and developing fast with the aim that in thirty years time, China will be the world’s factory and India will be the world’s office.

"What therefore is Wales’ future except in the knowledge economy, enriched by science and technology and able to develop specialist niches in products and services that are ahead of the game?

"The chances of achieving success in this direction would be much improved if we can marry specialist strengths in science and technology in the higher education sector with private sector strengths in the same science and technology fields."

Experts greeted the consultation as long overdue.

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, director of the National Entrepreneurship Observatory for Wales, told the Western Mail: "I’ve been banging on about this for three years.

"There have been three years of lost opportunity.

"Our competitor regions have been moving on, developing a coherent policy, and now we are playing catch-up once again."


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