5. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport: Digital Innovation — Responding to the Brown Review

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 1 December 2020.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 4:11, 1 December 2020

Thank you. There was a lot in there, and not much time to respond, so I'll try and be brief. I welcome the positive comments David Rowlands made about the approach we are taking, and particularly for the cyber innovation hub, which, I think, as he recognises, has got significant potential.

I did mention, in terms of the digital industrial clusters, that we are taking up that recommendation of the Brown review. I don't think, as I said, that it is for the Welsh Government to lead each of those clusters; I think it's important we play our part with others in making them relevant to the sectors that they are designed to advance. I think the digital nation accelerator project by the universities is a really good example, where it's the universities who've led and who've taken the initiative there, and they're now coming to us to ask how can we help them to realise their vision, and I think that is the right way around. This shouldn't be a top-heavy Government-led approach; this has got to be based on the needs of the economy.

In terms of his point about niche markets, I think it's an interesting point and is reflected back to a point earlier in his contribution: I don't think this is just about the shiny and the new and the high-tech industries; this has got to be about everyday economy as well. So, the question I'm interested in is: how do we integrate this agenda into the foundational economy, which, too often, have been characterised as being low skill, low productivity, low wage, but they needn't be? So, how do we get this innovation agenda into the everyday services? So, the foundational economy challenge fund, for example, has taken up a number of those projects. One project in Denbighshire is looking at how we can use automation and robotics to help people in care to adapt, tackle loneliness, for example. So, I think there are all sorts of positive niche ways, to use his term, that we can draw on this agenda to help other problems that we have.

And finally, on his first point about how do we promote the consultation, well, I'd be grateful for all Members' help in drawing people's attention to the fact that this is now live. We'll be tweeting it this afternoon, and let the crowd do their best.