Committee publication · Correspondence · 13 November 2025
Correspondence from Rhian Hayward dated 29 September relating to the 3 September evidence session on Promoting Wales for Inward Investment
From: Welsh Affairs Committee
Summary
Dr Rhian Hayward of AberInnovation submits written evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry on inward investment in Wales. She argues that Wales's dispersed agri-tech and food & drink clusters, spread across rural areas, represent untapped inward investment potential but face barriers in finance access, visibility, connectivity, and skills. She recommends targeted UK Government intervention—including cluster governance support, patient capital funds, and procurement alignment—to embed long-term investment alongside Welsh Government initiatives.
Key findings
- Wales possesses distinctive dispersed innovation clusters in agri-tech and food & drink, recognised by UKRI and government, but these rural assets lack visibility compared to urban clusters and face barriers in venture capital access.
- Four infrastructure barriers limit sector-specific inward investment: access to finance for rural SMEs, weak visibility and branding of dispersed assets, poor digital and transport connectivity in rural areas, and smaller labour pools reducing investor confidence.
- Long-term inward investment embedding requires formalised cluster governance, workforce pipelines via universities, shared assets (incubators, accelerators, demonstration sites), and dedicated cluster management organisations.
- International comparators (SRUC in Scotland, Wageningen University, INRAE in France) use 'living labs' and experimental farms as testbeds to attract agri-tech and biotech firms seeking real-world trial sites.
- UK Government should create rural patient capital funds, tie incentives to local procurement and R&D partnerships, expand SBRI procurement, tailor R&D tax relief, and fund inward investment officers embedded in Welsh innovation assets.
Tone
SupportiveTopics
Key actors
Dr Rhian Hayward, Ruth Jones MP, Welsh Affairs Committee, Welsh Government, UK Government, UKRI, Aberystwyth University, SRUC
Notable line
“Wales has competitive, rural innovation assets and expertise, to the extent that targeted interventions focussed solely on our urban clusters miss a latent opportunity to attract …”
Key Quotes
“Government (UKRI), local authorities and Welsh Government and where the expertise and assets are spread across Wales forming a compelling example of a dispersed cluster.”
“… rurally headquartered SMEs are less visible to venture capital finance organisations inside and outside Wales than those in urban areas, limiting private investment.”
“A formalised and celebrated cluster contains, and maintains, the long-term relationships that create a robustness that appeals to inward investors.”
“Government could consider: • Create a ( ' rural ' ) dispersed cluster patient capital fund : Targeted e.g. co-investment for agri-tech/food-tech microbusinesses and SMEs in Wales.”
“The UK Government can play a catalytic role by aligning finance, procurement and promotion with a sector-specific cluster strategy, in partnership with the Welsh Government …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗