Rebecca Evans MS, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
In February 2023, the Welsh Government published Wales Innovates: Creating a Stronger, Fairer, Greener Wales, a mission-based, cross government innovation strategy. It set out our aims grouped into four missions – Education, the Economy, Health and Wellbeing, and Climate and Nature.
A subsequent delivery plan was published in October 2023 which promised to provide a progress update after the first year. This Statement sets out the significant progress by Welsh Government in implementing numerous actions across the four missions that are benefitting all regions of Wales.
Education
Since June 2024, Careers Wales has been working with schools to develop entrepreneurial awareness through Business Wales funded Big Ideas Wales, and has supported the new curriculum through the development of new entrepreneurship teaching resources on Hwb and training.
The Robert Owen project: guide to co-operatives and social business, published in May 2024, is increasing innovation experiences in school settings. Available on Hwb it aims to help young people become enterprising, creative contributors through their learning.
We continue to work with The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) organisations to deliver an all Wales Innovation Awards. The event attracted 975 students from 67 schools in 2023, and 1,015 students from 70 schools in 2024.
During the 2023-24 academic year, 4,438 students in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) received support from Enterprise Champions, with 702 students going on to start a business.
A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the continuation of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships from 2024-2027 was signed in April 2024 with an annual budget of £1.4m which is match funded by Innovate UK. The Welsh Government’s contribution of £1.8m which leveraged £1.5m from other public funding bodies and £5m from participating businesses resulted in the creation of 83 new jobs during the last MoU period which ran from 2021-2024.
Responsible for funding and regulating the tertiary education and research sector in Wales, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research was rebranded as Medr in June 2024 and became operational on 1 August 2024. This includes further education, higher education, apprenticeships, school sixth forms, adult community learning, and government-funded research and innovation.
Medr supports Welsh universities' innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities through its Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF) which has distributed over £28.3m since February 2023. It also encourages universities to help students from under-represented groups to develop entrepreneurial skills as part of the Employability Support for Students funding.
Medr has been tasked with developing a culture of innovation and engagement in mission-based collaboration with businesses, industry investors and government that contributes to economy and society. The Welsh Government worked with Medr during the development of its strategic plan, which was submitted for approval in December 2024.
Economy
The Economy mission has seen developments in Wales, with the UK government, and internationally.
Our SMART Flexible Innovation Support (SFIS) was launched in June 2023 supporting organisations, businesses, colleges, universities, health boards, local authorities, social enterprises and research and technology organisations regardless of size within our priority themes and strengths areas. SFIS has supported 148 projects, providing £11.8 million in grants toward a projected total expenditure of £24.9 million up until the end of December 2024, fostering innovation, enhancing competitiveness, and driving significant economic and social benefits.
A new iteration of our Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme started in June 2024, complementing the existing Business Wales business support provision. It delivers specialist support through a tailored package of advice for innovation-led businesses.
Funding for organisational Intellectual Property (IP) audits to develop an IP strategy was launched in July 2024 by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in conjunction with Welsh Government.
We have further developed our relationships with the UK Research Councils and awareness-raising of the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) innovation competitions as well as working jointly to progress the Freeports, Investment Zones and City & Growth Deal propositions.
A UK Feasibility Study Report and Outline Business Case has been developed for an Advanced Radioisotope Technology for Health Utility Reactor (ARTHUR) Programme, to be located in north-west Wales. If built, ARTHUR will produce many of the key components in nuclear medicine used to tackle diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease.
The Airbus Endeavr Wales (Endeavr) project, co-funded by Welsh Government and Airbus Defence and Space, aims to discover and understand, through a programme of world class research, technologies that support the sustainable development of the Airbus business and grow and strengthen Welsh industrial and academic capabilities. The project has leveraged £1.3m between the 2023 and 2024 calendar years and supported 5 projects out of a total of 38 projects submitted.
Between April 2023 and March 2024 the Development Bank of Wales invested over £8.8m, supporting 31 innovation and technology companies, leveraging £9.7m of additional private sector co-investment. The Bank's dedicated Technology Seed Fund supports Welsh technology businesses, and those willing to relocate here, at a proof of concept stage, encouraging innovation and growth for long-term impact.
The Welsh Government continues to use the Contracts for Innovation mechanism to promote collaborative RD&I activity and facilitate public sector procurement for innovative solutions. Six challenges have been supported since February 2023, including the Circular Economy; Domiciliary Care; Air Quality; Clinician Monitored Care at Home; and Medical Gasses. As of December 2024, over £2.3m is supporting 16 collaborative projects involving 17 businesses, 6 local authorities, 7 health boards and 2 third sector organisations from within Wales.
In relation to the UK Government, we have signed an MoU with Innovate UK signalling a mutual agreement to share data, increase partnership working and develop high-quality innovation proposals across a range of Welsh stakeholders, sectors and regions. As a result of the MoU a joint Collaborative Innovation Plan has been published. Progress was showcased at an “Innovate Local” event held in Wrexham in November 2024.
We continue to support Welsh applications for Innovate UK funding – as of December 2024, over £66.7m was awarded to businesses in the 2023-24 financial year, an increase of over £5m from the previous financial year, supporting 167 projects.
Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme supports emerging regional SME clusters. Working with Welsh stakeholders, it has committed to invest £7.5m to a Net Zero Technologies Launchpad in South West Wales, where the first six funding awards have been made. It has also agreed £5m for an Agri-tech and food Launchpad for Mid and North Wales, where nine projects have secured a share of £400,000.
The Welsh Government became a delivery partner for the Innovate UK Business Growth Programme in January 2024, offering international collaboration opportunities for Welsh organisations across the EU and beyond. Between January and December 2024, we have engaged with 98 organisations to explore opportunities.
Wales is one of eleven innovative EU regions that are part of the Vanguard Initiative that has developed and taken part in the Vinnovate pilot; an inter-regional collaboration mechanism. Applications were received in Wales, seeing potential collaborations with the following regions - Galacia (Spain), Norte (Portugal); East Netherlands and North West Romania. Five projects involving nine Welsh organisations are being supported totalling c.£950,000 for the Welsh participants.
Health And Wellbeing
The £11.5m Innovation, Technology and Partnerships programme supports a range of innovation platforms, linked to Ministerial priorities across health and social care in Wales. This includes the Life Science Hub Wales, Health Technology Wales, the Bevan Commission and 10 regional innovation co-ordination hubs across Wales.
The AI Commission was launched in 2024 and guides the appropriate use of AI in health and social care. It has endorsed the use of the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standards (ATRS), ensuring trust and openness when using AI in healthcare.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have negotiated access to an expanded set of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) programmes to increase research funding. Every £1 spent in these programmes returns £10 of economic benefit and cost saving to the NHS. Increased levels of research activity will also offer more opportunities for patients. During the 2023-24 financial year, 19,627 participants in Wales were recruited into high-quality research studies, ensuring people receive early access to cutting-edge treatments and service innovations.
Life Sciences Hub Wales continues to support our Tackling Cancer initiative between Welsh Government and NHS Wales. It has established a directory of innovation funding and key innovation partners, facililitating access to funding sources to support collaboration between health, industry and academia. Further information is available in the Hub’s Innovating for a Healthier Wales 2023-2024 annual report.
A range of strategic health and industry partnerships are in place with Amgen, Medtronic, Novartis, Pfizer, Eli Lilly and lllumina in Wales. Partnerships focus on areas including diagnostic capacity, digital pathology, innovative care pathways, AI and multi-omic data platforms, fostering increased investment in the Welsh life sciences sector.
Health and Care Research Wales has successfully negotiated partnership agreements with BioNTech and Moderna to support commercial research clinical trials in Wales. The Moderna agreement ensures Wales’ participation in the UK Vaccine Innovation Programme. The BioNTech agreement supports the company’s mNRA vaccine trials in Wales.
£22m additional funding has been secured from the UK Government, as part of the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access and growth investment programme, to bolster the NHS’ capacity to deliver commercial clinical research. Implementation started in 2024, and will continue through to 2028.
The QuicDNA project, delivered by the All-Wales Medical Genomics Service and Cardiff University, has brought together NHS organisations across Wales, the Centre for Trials Research, the Welsh Government, Health and Care Research Wales, Life Sciences Hub Wales, various industry partners including Illumina, Amgen and Medtronic, the third sector and the Moondance Cancer Initiative in a partnership to support the earlier detection of lung cancer by liquid biopsy.
Social Care Wales has led the way with a new social care research, innovation and improvement strategy, which is the first of its kind in Wales and was published in May 2024. It will create the conditions to make positive and lasting changes in social care and inspire new ways of working.
An inter-Ministerial group, with membership from each of the devolved and UK governments has been created to develop a common approach to speed up the adoption of innovation across the respective NHS systems in each part of the UK.
Climate and Nature
The Green Business Loan Scheme invested £3.3m in 16 projects during the 2023-24 financial year, with a further £4.2m of new projects under consideration. Total CO2e forecast savings of 20,266 tonnes and an estimated annual cost saving for businesses of £1m.
The Circular Economy Fund launched in June 2023 supporting 19 projects from Welsh organisations up to December 2024. Over £2m was awarded totalling project costs of £3.8m.
£70m of capital funding has been made available to social landlords through the Optimised Retrofit Programme during the 2023-24 financial year and a mobilisation phase is underway for a home retrofit scheme for owner-occupiers.
The Smart Living scheme for decarbonisation innovation invested £238,000 in hydrogen Contracts for Innovation feasibility projects between February 2023 and March 2024. A further £400,000 was awarded to four regional challenges through the new Whole Systems Research and Innovation for Decarbonisation (WSRID) SBRI in October 2024.
A Contract for Innovation Ammonia Challenge is on-going to address rising ammonia emissions from cattle. £1m has been secured from Welsh Government to the end of March 2025. Five companies will share funding and are in the process of running a full 12-month field test of their products and methodologies.
In November 2024, we also launched the Forestry and Timber element of the Flexible Skills Programme, offering £280,000 to support businesses access training and upskill their employees. The fund supports businesses in these sectors as well as their supply chains, including advanced timber manufacturing. We want to ensure skills are developed to enable an increased use of timber in construction. Understanding timber technology across the built environment is crucial to building low carbon efficient buildings here in Wales
Conclusion
The Welsh Government made a commitment to track the course of the missions, reflecting back on what has changed. This is the first progress update following publication of the strategy. A formal evaluation of the strategy will take place at years three and five to explore strategy implementation, progress and impacts.