0.6 Discussion  (Page 7/8)

Creating spin-out companies is one matter, growing them is another challenge altogether. It is growing indigenous companies that creates dynamism in the economy and stimulates activity leading to cluster creation. Wales performs badly in this regard, with very few knowledge based companies formed in Wales growing at pace. There appears to be a number of reasons for this.

Firstly, management skills and acumen seems lacking. In fairness these skills are rare and highly valued in the global market place. Successful managers of knowledge business with a proven track record can name their own price in the ‘transfer market’. However, which of Wales’ or for that matter the UK’s business schools developing these skills? There is a big potential role for the Business Schools of Wales to play in developing the business leaders that a sustainable knowledge cluster will need. It could be argued that the Business Schools are overwhelmingly focussed on the traditional, and institutionally profitable, MBA delivery rather than on developing specialist programmes that are of direct local impact.

Appetite for risk is another issue of direct relevance and importance. Public sector organisations, are traditionally risk averse and the default situation of comfort is often one where do nothing option is seen as the safe option. Indeed the HE funding councils could themselves be accused of adopting a prudent ‘safety first’ approach to initiatives that touch on economic development issues.

Measuring value creation is of great importance and identifying the KPIs that truly reflect the development of value is another aspect that could benefit from review. Too often, traditional metrics are meaningless. The counting of patents generated is a classic example, for patents in their own right have no value until the ideas embedded in them are introduced to the market. Again, Wales has historically boasted an excellent rate of patent generation but no one has followed and reported on the generation of value under the cover of those patents.

Perspectives from the study underpinning this are described below.

Science in growth sector

• As shown in the KTN questionnaire enterprises across the sector are growing rapidly. Considered against Moore’s Life-Cycle Model (2005), the individual sectors considered all offer significant growth and employment opportunities.

Access to markets

• Observations from the KTN questionnaire demonstrate a broad coverage of international markets by companies operating in the sector. This links in with the consideration by Davis and Weinstein 1999 highlighting the importance of such market access in being a key contributor to growth.

Strategic governmental support

• The role of government in supporting through investments and provision of facilities is highlighted in the KTN questionnaire. However it is also clear that the “facilitator” role should be considered more so when it comes to the management of business and creation of value. This is echoed by the observations of “Political Supporters”, “Institutional Facilitators”, and “Coalface Researchers” in the stakeholders’ interviews.