wales overview web
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Wales as a buisness locationTRANSCRIPT
Wales. Business opportunity
Wales. Business opportunity
Our vision is of a Welsh economy built upon
the strengths and skills of its people and natural
environment, recognised at home and abroad
as confident, creative and ambitious; a great
place to live and work.
Senedd, National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay
contents
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2 Welcome to Wales4 Why Wales?6 Keeping good company8 Academic collaboration
Key sectors: 10 Advanced Materials and Manufacturing11 Creative Industries12 Energy and Environment13 Financial and Professional Services14 Information and Communications Technologies15 Life Sciences
Support: 16 Your partner for growth17 Property18 Access to funding and international trading19 A balanced lifestyle
LondonWALES
New York
Dubai
Bangalore
Mumbai
Sydney
TokyoBeijing
Shanghai
Dublin
Wales is a very distinctive country. We’re constantly working to create the right environment for business - to equip the private sector in Wales with the tools to compete as a high-value player in the global economy.
The Welsh economy is built upon the strengths and skills of our people and natural environments, we’re a confident, creative and ambitious nation; a great place to live and work.
For years, our government has invested millions in making our cities and regions excellent bases for companies in all kinds of sectors. And we’re incredibly proud of our country – and more than anything we want new people to come and share some of the great things going on here.
We’ve got a way of making things happen in Wales. For example, when we set out to be the host nation for The 2010 Ryder Cup, we were up against England, Sweden and even Scotland, the home of golf.
But, we clinched it. Why? In Wales, our facilities, resources, skills and enthusiasm are well above par. And we’re always ready to go the extra mile – just so your business can play to win in Wales.
You can be part of a thriving knowledge economy, linked to key UK business hubs with a first class transport infrastructure, but pay less for some of the best property around. You get access to industry-focused R&D in our universities and a skilled, loyal workforce too.
Our rich and varied culture and stunning environment not only make Wales the perfect place to grow your business but also to enjoy an enviable lifestyle.
In the last 40 years, over 700 international companies have located to Wales, creating impressive supply chains across key industrial sectors.
We look forward to welcoming you too.
welcome to Wales
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Wales. Business opportunity
“We looked at various locations around the UK and there were grants and incentives available in all of them. However, people are by far the biggest factor in our business and we found a rich vein of talented people in Cardiff, and city-centre accommodation close to transport so we could access those people. Wales ticked all the boxes for us.”
Adrian Clark; site director for Legal & General at Cardiff which is now the largest office in the group with 2,200 staff.
LondonWALES
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Dubai
Bangalore
Mumbai
Sydney
TokyoBeijing
Shanghai
Dublin
Manchester
Edinburgh
Airport
Wales
Container port
Liverpool John Lennon
Liverpool
Cardiff
Dublin
Milford HavenBristol
LondonHeathrow
Gatwick
Holyhead
Easy access within Europe
Cardiff Airport Direct Flights to Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin
Bristol Airport (1hr from Cardiff) Direct flights to New York, Brussels, Frankfurt, Canada
Heathrow and Gatwick 2hrs from Cardiff
Cardiff Container Port Access to Ireland and Mediterranean ports, with nearby Bristol (1hr) and Southampton Container Ports (2.5hrs)
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Location map: overseas offices
why Wales?We strive to create the right environment for business, and we’ve been actively helping companies locate and prosper in Wales for decades. Here are just some of the reasons why you could succeed in Wales:
10 Great reasons for Wales
1. Skills: Wales has a long tradition of engineering and manufacturing excellence, and established capabilities in IT, financial and professional services, and technologies in sectors ranging from life sciences to entire low carbon economies. All this is underpinned by a highly skilled, loyal and competitive workforce and driven forward by research and thousands of graduates from Wales’ leading universities.
2. Industry-led academic research: Welsh universities and companies are pioneering tomorrow’s technology through extensive collaboration.
3. Pro-business Government: we’ll make sure policy and strategy makers in the Welsh Assembly Government listen to you.
4. Proximity to UK hubs and European Marketplace: as well as being a destination in itself, Wales gives you easy access to key industry hubs in the UK. With great roads, rail and air links to England, Europe and to the rest of the world.
5. Communications infrastructure: our broadband infrastructure includes a fibre-based open access network in North Wales, and the Welsh Assembly Government has committed to rolling out a next generation broadband to all businesses by 2016 and all homes by 2020, offering at least 100Mbps in urban areas and 30Mbps to rural locations.
6. Property: competitively priced commercial and industrial property, with lower domestic property prices than much of the UK.
7. Access to funding: we encourage growth by finding the right support for you, in areas such as skills development, academic collaboration and business expansion.
8. Industry networks: talk to potential business partners, and access a high quality supply chain.
9. Ongoing support: targeted business support for key sectors including: advanced materials and manufacturing; creative industries; financial and professional services; energy and environment; ICT and life sciences.
10. Exceptional quality of life: stunning landscapes and beautiful beaches, cultural and sports facilities including the Millennium Stadium (hosting international rugby matches and FA Cup finals).
Wales. Business opportunity
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Atraverda - Advanced bi-polar batteries
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keeping good companyYour business will be in the very best of company in Wales – some of the key universities and organisations profiting from your presence in Wales.
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Wales. Business opportunity
M4
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DerbyGaydon
Sunderland
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OxfordSwindonLondon
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Cardiff Airport
SWANSEA
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ResolvenLlanelli
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Swansea Airport
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Mid Wales Airport
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CARDIFFCardiff Airport
SWANSEA
Wrexham
Welshpool
Llandudno
DeesideBroughton
Conwy
Newport
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BlackwoodRhymney Valley
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Swansea Airport
Pembrey Airport
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M4
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DerbyGaydon
Sunderland
Ellesmere Port
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OxfordSwindonLondon
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Cwmbran
Bridgend
CARDIFF
Cardiff Airport
SWANSEA
Flint
Wrexham
Tredegar
ResolvenLlanelli
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Ruthin
Deeside
Welshpool
St AsaphLLANDUDNO
Conwy
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Ebbw Vale617
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Swansea Airport
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UniversitiesAberystwyth University
Bangor University
Cardiff University
Glyndwr University
Swansea Metropolitan University
Swansea University
University of Glamorgan
University of Wales Institute Cardiff
University of Wales Newport
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The Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University is developing new commercially viable processes to make ethanol from perennial ryegrass in a £1 million project with eight industrial partners.
(The University has also won £4.9 million from BBSRC to develop improved oat varieties).
Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences
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academic collaborationIn Wales you’ll find specialist organisations with industry-leading facilities, and partners who are taking the science forward with innovative techniques.
Wales’ academic institutions are commercially focused, and research driven. Perfectly placed to work with businesses, our universities and colleges provide access to the facilities, skills and research expertise that are so crucial to innovating and making technologies a commercial success. And through targeted support programmes, the Welsh Assembly Government is ensuring that businesses remain at the forefront of technology and manufacturing development.
And we’re always looking for ways to bring academic skills and industrial needs closer together. Our approach includes working with academia to build capacity and support the needs of businesses in the key sectors. With the provision of specialist facilities, including incubation centres we will continue to provide the environment to accelerate the growth of technology and knowledge-based businesses.
A £40million super computer project has been launched that will give business and universities in Wales access to the most advanced computing technology currently available. High Performance Computing (HPC) Wales will provide computers that can analyse massive amounts of data at a high speed. The main computer hubs will be in Cardiff and Swansea universities with links to others and Technium business innovation centres around Wales. More than 100 collaborative projects between the universities and industry in Wales have been identified that will benefit from HPC technology.
Simulation and Modelling
The internationally renowned School of Engineering at Swansea University contributed to the aerodynamics technology in the current World Land Speed Record car, Thrust SSC. It’s now working on the BLOODHOUND SCC vehicle, which aims to inspire science, engineering, technology and maths students to achieve the seemingly impossible – a 1,000mph land speed record vehicle. www.bloodhound.scc.com
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The Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI) has £40 million funding so far to conduct a full range of energy research in Wales, with a vision for a low carbon future.
The Institute of Energy at Cardiff University is working in low carbon heat and electricity generation, and exploring ways of integrating renewable energy sources (including microgeneration) into the UK National Grid. The ongoing project takes in the information exchange between the supply and demand side, smart meters and how they can facilitate demand-side response, and ICT infrastructure.
The Centre for Solar Energy Research is a joint venture between Glyndwr University and Technium OpTic, funded to enable businesses to research industrial processes for PV manufacture, among other areas.
Cardiff University’s Wound Healing Research Unit (WHRU) is the world’s second largest specialist wound healing centre. It works with commercial partners such as Smith & Nephew, Johnson & Johnson and KCI on novel therapies and wound diagnostic technologies.
The Materials Research Centre at the School of Engineering Swansea University is home to the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre. Rolls-Royce and the EPSRC have funded the centre for £54 million for research into structural materials and training. The Centre is also involved in the European Space Agency, where they are a key member of the IMPRESS project, researching novel intermetallic materials.
The Welsh Composite Centre also at Swansea University drives the uptake of new composites technology that helps companies adapt new
Here’s some examples of collaboration across the key sectors:
developments in composites. They are presently working in collaboration with Airbus, who are characterising the performance of composite materials for primary aircraft structures.
The Non-destructive Testing Validation Centre in Port Talbot, managed by TWI, assesses NDT methods to improve the accuracy of inspection techniques and flow detection.
The University of Wales, Swansea’s new £28 million Institute of Advanced Telecommunications connects business to its communications and software research.
The Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, at University of Glamorgan has been successful in winning over £1 million worth of competitive Academia for Business (A4B) awards for Medialab, the centre for digital media innovation and enterprise.
Cardiff University collaborates with Legal & General to run a specialist medical underwriting academy, which has already trained over 100 of the firm’s underwriters.
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Solar Centre at Baglan Energy Park
At Baglan Energy Park we’ve invested over £2 million in the UK’s first renewable hydrogen production and demonstration centre to take hydrogen and other alternative fuel technologies to market.
The Institute of Life Science (ILS) at Swansea University is a £52 million collaboration between IBM and the Welsh Assembly Government. The Institute houses Boots Centre for Innovation (BCI) which provides a point of contact for new ideas in healthcare and medical research and provides researchers with access to ‘Blue C’ – one of the fastest computers in the world dedicated to life sciences research.
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Manufacturing is one of our longest-established sectors, and today our companies and universities are developing advanced materials for a range of sectors including aerospace, automotive and electronics, and the complex manufacturing processes for their applications.
Some of the world’s biggest aerospace and defence companies have bases in Wales, including General Dynamics, EADS DS, BAE Systems and British Airways. Wales undertakes 35 per cent of the UK’s MRO activity at some of the world’s most advanced facilities. The Airbus UK wing manufacture centre is the biggest manufacturing operation in the UK. St Athan has exceptional airside hangarage
Cytec Engineered Materials produces high-performance, composites and specialty materials for Boeing, Airbus, as well as other aircraft manufacturers. The company has applied the same technology to the high performance end of the automotive industry.
key sectors:Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
and a completely refurbished runway – it’s also a proposed site for the MoD’s Defence Training Academy. Our automotive sector employs over 20,000 people and has an annual turnover of £2 billion. Wales is close to the UK’s core automotive centres, and 35 of the top 100 global automotive suppliers are based here, including Ford and Toyota. Our 170 automotive companies manufacture engines and components for brands leading the world in advanced powertrains.
We have particular expertise in alternative fuels hydrogen research and technology, and we’re pioneering low carbon powertrains. The M4 motorway corridor, leading into South Wales, is set to be
the UK’s first low carbon highway, where drivers can fill up vehicles with hydrogen, compressed natural gas and bio-methane, as well as recharge electric vehicles at plug-in points.
Global electronics brands are also tapping into our skills and resources. Sony, Panasonic and International Rectifier are just three of the 300-plus larger electronic companies operating in Wales.
A skilled workforce is any company’s most important asset and with thousands of people in Wales already working in manufacturing and advanced materials – not to mention 2,000+ engineering graduates every year from Welsh universities - there is a wealth of talent upon which to draw.
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The UK has the largest creative sector in the EU with 2 million people in creative jobs. It now makes up 7.3 per cent of the economy and is growing at 5 per cent per year (almost twice the general rate of the economy).
In Wales, the audio-visual and creative and cultural industries employ around 24,000 people and contribute an estimated £750 million to the Welsh economy. BBC Wales, Tinopolis and Welsh language channel S4C are amongst the largest employers in the creative industries sector in Wales.
The Welsh Assembly Government is making Wales a better environment for business following the 2010
image courtesy of UniversalWhilst many locations in Wales are hidden gems waiting to be discovered by film makers, the country has hosted many large-scale productions over recent years including feature films such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Robin Hood, Ironclad, Clash of the Titans, and many more. Coupled with this, Wales is booming as a centre for TV drama with the success of such series as Doctor Who, Torchwood, Merlin and Gavin and Stacey, all attracting huge viewing figures in the UK and overseas.
Creative Industries
Hargreaves Review, which aims to make creative businesses more competitive nationally and globally.
Our key resources include locations for film and television productions. Wales has a stunning variety of natural landscape locations ranging from craggy mountain peaks and cascading waterfalls to wild moorlands, picturesque coastline and historic castles in approximately 8,000 square miles. Wales’ locations are so versatile that they have doubled for China, Korea, the deserts of Arabia, and even other planets.
And it’s so accessible - our capital city, Cardiff, is only two hours
by car or train from London and Cardiff Airport connects you to continental Europe and international destinations.
On behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government, Creative Business Wales provides focused, sophisticated support to the growth of Wales-based creative businesses.
Part of this is the Wales Screen Commission, which offers comprehensive information and support on locations, facilities, crew and local services throughout Wales. They are strategically linked to all the key stakeholders including Finance Wales which administers the Wales Creative IP Fund.
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Llanelli
Merthyr Tydfil
PontypriddNewport
Bristol
Barry
PortTalbot
Bridgend
CARDIFF
Welsh Assembly Government highways depots
Proposed EV facility (rapid charge)
Renewable H2 Demonstration Centre with existing multi re-fuelling facility 1
University of Glamorgan mobile multi re-fuelling facility (2010)2
Existing hydrogen production facilities
Possible sites for mobile multi fuel facility
Wales has one of the UK’s best-established sustainable technologies sectors, worth £3.2 billion and employing over 40,000 people, covering areas as diverse as sustainable building, renewable energy, recovery and recycling, and environmental services.
Global players are already taking advantage of the abounding natural and intellectual resources in Wales, such as npower renewables, E.On, EDF, Prenergy, Western Energy, UPM and AMEC.
Welsh coal powered the industrial revolution, but today we’re taking a leading role in low carbon and sustainable energy such as wind, tide, hydro-electric and biomass.
“Wales is leading the way in tackling climate change and we will continue to be a flagship for what we hope will be the start of a major move away from the use of fossil fuels for transport and in buildings.”
Jane Davidson Welsh Assembly Government, Minister for the Environment
Energy and Environment
Our groundbreaking research into hydrogen technologies has won South Wales designation as the UK’s Low Carbon Economic Area (LCEA) for alternative transport fuels.
As a country we’re committed to becoming a low carbon economy and we’ve set ourselves targets, well beyond the UK and EU’s, to get there. We’re also making substantial investments to help deliver and implement technology such as £30 million in retrofitting energy efficiency measures in buildings.
We’re also equipping more of our people to work in sustainable technologies: the new British Gas Training Centre in Tredegar will train over a thousand people
in green skills every year, and our universities produce graduates in disciplines such as low carbon technologies, renewable energy, marine sciences, environmental science and the built environment.
In Wales, policy strategy, investment, research and business go hand-in-hand. With more investment and commercial opportunities (potentially £50 billion for large renewables and other low-carbon electricity projects over the next 10-15 years), there’s good reason to be in Wales.
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“Admiral is going from strength to strength as our recruitment figures show. Our customer base continues to grow so we need the right people to help meet the demand.”
Ceri Assiratti, People Services Manager, Admiral Group who employ over 3,000 people in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport and includes the well known services, confused.com and elephant.co.uk
Financial and Professional Services
Wales is just two hours’ drive from Europe’s leading financial powerhouse in London. It’s a very cost-competitive base that’s equipped with super-fast broadband infrastructure, and there are big opportunities for growth in areas such as insurance, asset management, funds management and pensions as the UK banking industry is restructured.
One of our greatest strengths is our human resources, and there’s a wealth of skilled, enthusiastic and loyal people especially around the financial and business hubs of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. Our 10 universities produce around 5,000 graduates in business and ICT disciplines
that are tailor-made for careers in business and financial services.
This is one of the UK’s fastest growing locations for financial services, and, according to new research, the preferred location for contact and shared service centres in the UK. In Wales, home-grown businesses compete alongside major financial services firms such as Zurich, GE, GMAC, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and Legal & General, whose largest UK office is in Cardiff.
We have a growing reputation for strengths in outsourced HR, legal and other corporate services. Tesco, the AA, British Gas, Companies House and the Office of National Statistics have
established business service operations in Wales, and price comparison businesses including confused.com. gocompare.com and moneysupermarket.com are also based here.
The financial services sector currently employs more than 32,000 people across 1,800 companies in Wales, and professional services over 150 companies covering retail, utilities, ICT support and financial services to motoring services, taxation and legal services.
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In addition to being an important industry sector, the application of ICT drives productivity and competitiveness across the whole economy. Increased trade and globalisation is enabled by ICT, creating a flatter world with more competition and more opportunities for Welsh businesses.
The ICT sector in Wales spans electronics, software and services with a healthy mix of large multinationals and home-grown businesses. With over 1200 operations – among them Fujitsu Services, BT, Mitel, Logica, EADS DS, SAIC, and IBM – employing over 33,000 people and contributing around £1 billion to the Welsh economy.
“Two key factors made the difference – access to skills and the approach of the Welsh Assembly Government. The ability to draw on high calibre university graduates has been a significant contributor to our growth.”
Mike Greenway OBE; Senior Commercial Consultant, EADS Defence and Security. Since establishing a base in Wales in 2002 the company has tripled in size and become a worldwide Centre of Excellence for secure communications technology.
Information and Communications Technologies
We know that technology business depends on infrastructure – which is why the Welsh Assembly Government has recently committed to rolling out the UK’s first, all region, next generation network which will offer, as a minimum to businesses by 2016 and homes by 2020, a synchronous 100mbs service in urban areas and 30mbs to rural locations. This is in addition to previous investments such as the £30 million open access fibre network in North Wales and BT’s own investment in super fast broadband across the country.
There’s another kind of connection that’s also behind the success of this sector in Wales. The M4
motorway is a physical highway that runs from London to West Wales, with countless technology players right the way along it, for example in Reading, Bracknell, Swindon and of course Cardiff, from where London is just two hours away.
This kind of connectivity makes Wales a perfect base for tapping into Europe’s £400 billion ICT economy.
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Wales is competing on the global stage in life sciences. Our companies and world-leading university departments are driving research to create new technologies in this constantly evolving sector.
Companies based here include some leading players in our specialist areas such as: medical technology (Biomet UK, Huntleigh and Gyrus ACMI, an Olympus company); diagnostics (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Gen-Probe and OrthoClinical Diagnostics); wound healing (ConvaTec, ZooBiotic and Frontier Medical Group); and contract research organisations (Aptuit, Biotec Services International and Penn Pharma).
“What’s happening here in Wales is comparable to many biotech hubs around the world, with a concentration of expertise and R&D excellence.”
Dr. Stephen Minger, Head of Research and Development for Cell Technologies at GE Healthcare, Cardiff, home to the Company’s international centre for groundbreaking work in stem cell technologies.
Life Sciences
GE Healthcare in Cardiff is home to the company’s international centre for groundbreaking work in stem cell technologies and BTG, the UK’s biggest biotechnology group, is based in mid-west Wales. Wales also has the UK’s largest cluster of in-vitro diagnostic companies, and other leading companies in Wales include Albany Molecular Research, Inc. (AMRI), Quay Pharma and Quotient Bioresearch.
These are just some of the 330 life sciences companies here that employ over 15,000 people and contribute more than £1.3 billion to the Welsh economy. The sector has grown in Wales by over 19 per cent in the last three years, and the people working here are some of the finest scientific minds in the world.
Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Products Ltd relocated the majority of its manufacturing and distribution operations from Los Angeles to their Llanberis, North Wales site.
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics is drawing on a rich mixture of scientists, engineers and quality and regulatory personnel in South Wales and from the M4 corridor.
Biomet, global leader in the orthopaedics market, have their largest European subsidiary and UK headquarters in Bridgend, South Wales.
Larval therapy firm ZooBiotic was the first spin-out from an NHS trust in the UK and is now the dominant global player.
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your partner for growth
Based on this experience we’ve put together an outstanding package of support, and we’ll give you a single, dedicated contact to help you build your business here.
The Welsh Assembly Government gives you easy access to key decision-makers in government and private sector specialists, to help fast-track your location to Wales.
Of course, every business is different. So we’ll listen to what
you say you need and bring together everything required to make it happen. From people and property solutions, through to access to finance and international trading opportunities. We can even help with obtaining work permits, finding a home and locating the right schools.
Long after you decide to locate in Wales, we will still be here to support your business. Because once you’re here, we’re sure you’ll want to stay.
People and training
A skilled workforce is among a company’s most important assets. Fortunately, in Wales we’ve got thousands of skilled, loyal staff in all our core sectors, and our universities supply over 34,000 graduates every year. With our track record of academic-industrial collaboration, our graduates are ready to join your company and hit the ground running. Once you’ve worked in Wales, generally
In Wales we know what inward investors need, and the commercial pressures you face - we’ve been helping companies locate here for decades.
you’ll want to stay. That explains why staff retention is higher than the UK average into the potential labour market.
We want to keep it that way. To help things along, the Welsh Assembly Government’s ProAct is a financial support package to help fund training needs during the downturn, which with its successor the Skills Growth Wales, totals £48 million.
Wales. Business opportunity
“Ford Motor Company are delighted to have worked in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government. The support received has enabled the Company to invest significantly in our Bridgend engine plant and demonstrates the mutual benefit when the public and private sector join forces in Wales.”
Kieran Cahill, Plant Manager, Ford. The company has been successfully manufacturing in South Wales for over 30 years. Its Bridgend engine plant – the biggest in Europe – is focused on the Eco Boost range offering a 20 per cent reduction in emissions.
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Llanelli Gate Business Park
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“The most important factors behind our decision to come to Wales were lower operating costs, good logistics, the quality of training available and the skilled workforce right on our doorstep.”
Martin Coysh, Manager Continuous Improvement, British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (BAMC).
The capacity of the site will allow BAMC to take on further work as new aircrafts come on line with BA.
Property
Wales has an exceptional variety of business property – from serviced offices and industrial units, to incubator facilities linked to academic R&D arms, and even property with runway access or dedicated airspace.
Baglan Energy Park is a key hub in Wales’ low carbon future as it’s home to the Hydrogen Research Centre. SA1 in Swansea accommodates mixed business uses in a regenerated waterfront setting that’s become an EU best practice benchmark. Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay is a beautifully designed commercial development that’s ideal for media, creative and life sciences businesses.
Our sites are among the best in Europe: ParcAberporth is Europe’s only test and development site for unmanned aerial vehicles with dedicated over-sea and over-land civil and military fly zones; St. Athan has exceptional airside hangarage and a completely refurbished runway – it’s also a proposed site for the MOD’s Defence Training Academy.
We have several innovation centres across Wales. They exist to speed up the growth of knowledge-based businesses through collaboration with other companies and university departments. Individual sites specialise in areas such as performance engineering, optoelectronics, software computer science, sustainable technologies and electronic devices.
We have the most experienced property team in Europe, and they’re dedicated to finding you your ideal base. You may also be eligible to access free accommodation and a specialist support package worth nearly £15,000, through Access Wales: www.ibwales.com/accesswales
Another thing we’ve got plenty of in Wales is space, which means we can meet your expansion plans in the future, for example with custom-built property solutions that deliver exactly what you need.
You might think all this comes at a high price. But property in Wales is among the lowest priced in the UK, with Cardiff office space some 40 per cent less than London. And our capital city is rated in the top 10 best UK cities to locate a business (source: 2007 Cushman & Wakefield UK Cities Monitor).
Amazon approached us to find a 30-acre (800,000 sq ft) site, and from the initial enquiry we took just 100 days to find the site, secure planning and grant approval and start building.
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Access to funding
Financial support is often a critical factor for businesses on the move. We encourage business growth by identifying sources of support and funding in areas such as skills development, academic collaboration and business expansion.
Businesses in Wales can access commercial finance from a variety of sources. A number of financial institutions operate in Wales such as Finance Wales who provides commercial finance through loans, venture capital packages and introductions to investors through their xénos Business Angel Network.
The Welsh Assembly Government can provide a level of investment across sectors including: advanced materials and manufacturing; creative industries; financial and professional services; energy and environment; ICT and life sciences. These investment will be repayable although the terms will vary depending on the purpose and size of the financial package. Consideration will be given to businesses falling in other sectors on a case by case basis, delivered swiftly and responsively.
International trading
Companies across Wales are exporting to a broad range of overseas markets, contributing some £10.7 billion to UK exports. Part of our support is helping you add to that by accessing international markets.
With our global network and contacts we’ll do whatever we can to help you - whether it’s establishing your presence at a trade show, or connecting you to a potential global partner that’s looking for your kind of business.
Parc Aberporth site – over-sea and over-land fly zone
Throughout the country there are stunning landscapes and breathtaking coastal views, all within minutes of the major towns and cities.
The country boasts sports and cultural facilities that stand comparison with anything in Europe. This includes the showpiece Millennium Stadium which has hosted an IRB Rugby World Cup final and five FA Cup finals and the awe inspiring Wales Millennium Centre, venue for major operas, musicals and other top performances.
a balanced lifestyleOnce you’re satisfied that Wales meets all your business objectives, consider what it offers your lifestyle.
There are nearly 180 golf courses across Wales, including The Celtic Manor Resort – host of The 2010 Ryder Cup.
Moreover Wales has more medieval castles than any location of comparable size in the world, along with a host of other historic sites, from the Iron Age through to the industrial revolution.
All of this makes Wales a place where you and your team will want to live, work and build a profitable business.
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“Quite apart from the support network and the workforce, other elements, such as the infrastructure, transport links and even the Welsh landscape make this location a perfect environment for us to do business. As far as I am concerned, there is nowhere else the company should be.”
John Smith General Manager, Corporate Office, Calsonic Kansei.
For more information contact:
Welsh Assembly Government, Plas Glyndwr, Kingsway, Cardiff, CF10 3AH, Wales, UK
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.ibwales.com
Tel: +44(0)1443 845500
WAG 10-03359/23-08-2010/CMK-22-03-253Typeset in 12pt / © Crown copyright 2010ISBN No. 978 0 7504 5654 8