Wales must develop a distinctive narrative about innovation in Wales, says the Learned Society of Wales. 

The comments come in the Society’s response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on its Innovation Strategy for Wales.

One of the strengths of small nations is the ability for key stakeholders to act in a coherent way. The Innovation Strategy for Wales must show how actors beyond Welsh Government might contribute to this national agenda.

The Society highlights the potential for Wales of the ‘innovation commons’ approach. This can bring together disconnected individuals, organisations, and institutions from across the private and public sectors in Wales.

Our response also emphasises the importance of Wales’s universities in the innovation ecosystem. We stress the role of the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research to support the sector to develop research and innovation capacity.

Society’s Innovation Roundtable Series

The Society convened six expert roundtable discussions, between November 2021 and July 2022, in anticipation of the Welsh  Government’s ‘Innovation Strategy’.

These came in response to the Welsh Government’s review of its innovation policies. The roundtable series was led by Professor Rick Delbridge FLSW, the Society’s special advisor on innovation.

Discussions covered: 

• an overview of the current innovation landscape; 
• lessons from small innovative nations; 
• the role of science parks; 
• the innovation commons model; 
• opportunities within the HE civic mission agenda for innovation;
• approaches to innovation in the third sector.

Reports summarising each of the sessions are available on the Society’s website and fed into our response to the Innovation Strategy consultation.