Inside Wales Tech Week

Written by Penny Beeston.

After attending the BI Foresight event on semiconductors in September I’ve been keen to get a better understanding of the Welsh tech ecosystem. Day 1 at Wales Tech Week (Technology Connected) at the International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales) was just the ticket. My main takeaway so far is the emphasis on people, not just technology being the strategic asset. This messaging came through strongly in each of the 4 talks I attended:

1. The Fireside Chat on the Manufacturing Landscape and Digitalisation. Jon Blackburn (Deputy CTO, High Value Manufacturing Catapult) and Jacqui Murray (Director, South Wales) told us how manufacturing is a strategic asset, driving 1 in 10 jobs and 50% of UK exports. The UK can’t compete on volume but must compete on value, resilience, and resource efficiency. They both stressed how the push to digitalise must be human-led. As Jon noted, we need to ask the people on the factory floor where automation is needed. Innovation needs to be a team effort or you risk white elephants. Jacqui noted that people in the UK don’t appreciate the brilliance of manufacturing in Wales and we need to tell better stories. Jon suggested a Brian Cox for manufacturing to capture the national imagination. With my TV head on, I feel a format idea emerging…

2. Factory Floor to Digital Core panel, featured Simon Pritchard (Philtronics Ltd), Zen G. (British Rototherm Co), Steph Locke (Nightingale HQ), Andrew Silcox (Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre), and Matthew Patching (WMG, University of Warwick). The theme here was that digitalisation should reduce the mundane tasks, not jobs. As Steph highlighted, the goal is to free up capacity for higher-value, more human-centric work. Again, to take people on this journey you need to get the stories right. Examples of converts included a guy in his 50s persuaded to go digital for paperwork because it freed up his Saturdays for family time, and a warehouse worker who realised an automated trolley wouldn’t take her job but allowed more time for stock-counting which she really enjoyed. Other tips for turning some of the most sceptical tech blockers into evangelists included putting trust at the centre of change, planning for early wins, intentional data use, and humanising the tech by giving robots names.

3. The Connected Supply Chain panel with Samantha Job CMG MVO (HM Ambassador to Sweden), Paul Brooks (The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade), Hazel Hung (CSconnected), Robert Learney (Digital Catapult), and Stewart Lane (Renishaw plc), discussed opportunities from disruption such as boom and bust cycles, global shortages, global tension and the race for more sovereign capability. As we shift from Just in Time to the need to build resilience, the critical message was don't trust, verify. With the EU's push for a digital product passport, this is no longer just about efficiency, it's about transparency, sustainability, and national security. Mapping the supply chain and relaying information between trusted partners is as much about human solutions as AI ones. It ended on a positive note with Hazel reminding us that where there is uncertainty, there is opportunity.

4. Made in Wales, Powering the World session on Compound Semiconductors. Drew Nelson, OBE (NetZero Semiconductors Ltd) and the panel, including @Prof. Dr. Rolf Hellinger (Siemens AG Digital Industries), Caroline O'Brien (CSA Catapult), Prof. Owen Guy (Swansea University), Dr Rodney Pelzel (IQE), and Michael O'Sullivan (Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.), explained the brilliance of the South Wales cluster. To underline just how critical semiconductors are for industrial strategy, they were described as the oil of our generation. Wales has deep, vertical specialisms in silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and photonics. When the panel was asked about what support they’d like from the Chancellor, there was a unanimous call to fund scale to capitalise on this unique ecosystem before the West loses the race to the East. But it also comes back to people. We need to double the workforce in 5 years (3000 to 6000 jobs in Wales), engaging children as young as primary school to get excited about the potential of power electronics to change the world.

Thank you to all the speakers and organisers for an inspiring day focusing on innovation, people, and resilience. I also enjoyed chatting to Nina Stevens at CS connected, Sanjay Purohit Trade commissioner Government of Canada, Sophia Gibbs at WMG, Leah Waldock at NCC, Martin Arnold at WP Thompson, Wild Connect: Fostering Connections with the Natural World to Save Our Planet, Callum Thompson MEng, Tom Walford at IQE.