Prosperity Wales: An Economic Development Agency for the 21st Century
We would establish Prosperity Wales, an arms-length all-Wales development agency to provide effective policy delivery, focusing on:
- Developing a stronger base of medium sized companies between 50 and 250 people.
- Place-based development and the foundational economy.
- University-business collaboration, especially around innovation strategies.
- Decarbonisation and the green industrial revolution.
- The Welsh public sector’s £6.3 billion procurement budget.
- Targeted inward investment, in particular attracting globally mobile business investment in R&D and early stage businesses to Wales.
- Manufacturing-led exports, modelling ourselves on small nation super exporters such as Ireland, Denmark, and Finland.
- Tackling inequality between communities and amongst unrepresented groups.
- Management training for SME staff, and technical training for the wider workforce.
Prosperity Wales will work closely with the Arfor Agency for the western seaboard of Wales and Cymoedd, the Valleys Development Authority. It will be built on the foundation of the Development Bank for Wales which already has some 200 staff working out of bespoke offices in Cardiff, Llanelli, and Wrexham. The two will be combined within a single organization, with a single board, but with the identity and operation of the Development Bank retained as the main financial arm of the organisation.