Scheme seeks to reap rewards of joined-up policy
An army of advocates is being recruited to champion entrepreneurship and innovation by developing greater interactions across the Welsh economy – from academics to venture capitalists.
BeTheSpark is a long way from a traditional clipboard-assessed business support programme. Instead it will encourage deeper levels of collaboration, aiming to creating more innovative businesses – and thus a more competitive economy across the five key stakeholder groups of entrepreneurs, government, corporates, academia and risk capital.
BeTheSpark was launched earlier this week, with 300 advocates from the five stakeholder groups pledging support at a conference in Cardiff.
The aim, through “amplification”, is to bring 3,000 advocates together for a conference later this year – with more backers in the years ahead.
Three Welsh Government ministers – Ken Skates (economy) Julie James (science and skills) and Kirsty Williams (education) – pledged their support at the event, which will now filter down into their departments’ interactions with the other stakeholders.
In 2015 Wales successfully applied to join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP). BeTheSpark is a direct result of that initiative to connect all key partners to support the right conditions for innovation-driven entrepreneurship in Wales.
Members of the Welsh REAP panel include entrepreneurs Hayley Parsons and James Taylor; Professor Simon Gibson, chief executive of technology investment fund Wesley Clover; enterprise academic Professor Dylan JonesEvans; and Dr Drew Nelson, chief executive of IQE, one of Wales’ leading technology firms.
REAP has concluded that the higher the level of connections between the five key drivers, the more successful are regional and national economies.
The Welsh REAP team were paired up with teams, also made up of representatives from the five stakeholder groups, in regions across the world, including from Japan, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Norway, China, Thailand and Israel.
They analysed the strengths and weaknesses of their respective economies.
Prof Gibson said: “The bestperforming regions in the world have the highest levels of connectivity between the five stakeholder groups. And an optimised economy captures ideas, supplies the relevant skills, builds infrastructure that supports advancement, attracts risk capital and seizes opportunities.
“And successful economies encourage innovation-driven entrepreneurship (IDE) through high levels of interaction. In our lengthy evaluation, it was clear we have much to do in Wales to achieve a well-connected IDE environment.”
Prof Gibson described current connectivity between business, entrepreneurs and universities as “sub-optimal.” Addressing this will be a key aim of the initiative.
He added: “On average, only 3% of our nation’s commercialisation is sourced from universities, which considering our investment in research and development is disappointing. Likewise you can count the number of Welsh public companies with a market capitalisation of more than £500m on one hand.
“After a professional career spanning all five stakeholder groups, I have been seeing opportunities lost for more than 40 years because of siloed self-interest and a lack of connectivity.
“However, a national economy with five stakeholders working in sync and moving in the same direction will propel us forward with new-found momentum.”
BeTheSpark will create a digital platform for all five stakeholder groups to interact – capturing the “wisdom of the crowd”, sharing challenges and opportunities and identifying funding sources. This could involve, say, health services and academics in Wales opening up their intellectual property to entrepreneurs and investors.
Prof Gibson said: “With support from MIT and others, we desire to make the BeTheSpark platform the go-to portal for the best thinking practices from around the world, as well as giving everyone access to useful software such as innovation and engagement toolkits”
He said the benchmarking with other REAP partners made it clear it was “delusion” to think that “everything we are doing in Wales is fine and world-class” – although the analysis also concluded Wales is world-leading in some fields, such as commercial insurance.
Prof Gibson added: “This initiative is not a call for a large funding resources from government. We are, however, pleading for a conscience effort in policy-making to always consider how an such decisions would complement connectivity and inter-working of the five stakeholder groups.”
Mr Skates said: “BeTheSpark provides key figures with an interest in driving forward entrepreneurship and innovation with a genuine opportunity to work together in meaningful partnership through the sharing of ideas and knowledge .
“Entrepreneurship and innovation-driven enterprises are crucial to the health and future of our economy. This event and programme is about harnessing our collective power and doing all we can across the economy to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Ms James said: “There are many great innovative initiatives happening in institutions, organisations, businesses, towns, villages and in the digital space right here in Wales, but part of our challenge is to connect these initiatives together and make them visible so that they can inspire future thinkers and entrepreneurs to take action...
“BeTheSpark is about bringing about those connections and joined-up working practices.”