Promoting Wales for inward investment

Status / emerging findings

• Wales receives investment proportional to population size but has underperformed since 2008 financial crisis and post-Brexit; Scotland and Northern Ireland have recovered better
• Wales lacks a dedicated arm's-length investment promotion agency comparable to Scottish Enterprise or MIDAS Manchester—identified as a 'barrier based on inaction'
• Wales investment summit (Dec 2025) generated £16bn in announced investment, but DBT-sourced inquiries have declined since 2021 due to fragmented messaging across UK government divisions
• Critical skills gaps remain the top immediate barrier; clusters only thrive in narrow geographic zones (Newport semiconductors, north Wales AI growth zones) rather than across Wales
• Welsh diaspora of 3 million overseas people is significantly underutilised compared to Scotland's and Ireland's diaspora investment networks

Why it matters

Wales's economic recovery and job creation depend on attracting high-value foreign investment; current underperformance relative to comparable UK regions suggests fixable coordination and branding gaps rather than fundamental structural flaws.

Tone arc

Started with diagnostic expertise (March–May: barriers analysis by academics and business leaders), shifted to solutions-focused post-government engagement (December–February: cooperation between Welsh Government, UK Department for Business, and OFI on delivery mechanisms like the investment summit and place-based targeting).

Key witnesses

Lord Stockwood (Office for Investment), Rebecca Evans (Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy), Professor Riccardo Crescenzi (LSE), James Gardiner (Ernst & Young), Nan Williams (GlobalWelsh), Ken Poole (Cardiff Council), MIDAS Manchester representatives, Scottish Development International