Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 15 June 2022.
'Yes', I think is the straight answer, and, of course, the vision for doing something like that was set out by my predecessor Ken Skates. And we are not just supportive of establishing an advanced technology research centre in Wales, but I can give the Member some rather more up-to-date news. Subject to developing a sustainable funding package, last week, the Welsh Government signed heads of terms for a preferred site in Sealand for an advanced technology research centre. Our partners in signing that are the Ministry of Defence. Work is now under way on the design of that facility to ensure that we meet the requirements of our partners and future users. So, good news about the centre. But I think, more importantly, just to highlight the point the Member made at the start, it is important to have a risk appetite to get things wrong and to learn from not being able to make progress. And that's one of the challenges we have about expectations of how public money is used, but recognising that, without some risk appetite, we won't see successful innovation and economic return as well. And I look forward to coming back with what I hope will be even better news about the heads of terms, and about the actual programmes to deliver the advanced technology research centre at our preferred site.