Can I thank you, Tom Giffard, for bringing forward this debate and giving me some time? I think all of us in this Chamber agree with the notion that research, development and innovation are important drivers to economic growth and prosperity, and of course universities are fundamental to this. Now, there is good news. Wales has been noted as a consistently strong player within international and regional research and innovation, and recent statistics show that Wales has a higher proportion of academic publications in the most cited global publications compared with any other part of the UK. But, as my colleague mentioned in his contribution, there is more that we can do to support universities to boost their capabilities.

One thing I think we need is more focus. So, what particular areas do we lead on, and what areas do we want to grow in? This comment has been made about the Welsh Government’s innovation strategy. The general missions of the strategy, whilst laudable, are quite broad. By being more focused and specific we can make it easier for universities and indeed Wales to develop and then scale the new ideas we require. And we’ve seen examples of how well this can work. For example, the Cardiff capital region city deal invested in developing the compound semiconductor appliances industry, prioritising investment in research and development and supporting innovative business, and we’ve seen universities engaging with this investment, with the Institute for Compound Semiconductors being established at Cardiff University. We need to ensure that we don’t just invest in research and innovation, but we also need to create synergies between academia and businesses to ensure that their needs and priorities align with one another. Thank you.