The Silicon Valleys

Thanks to major Government investment, ambitious plans to level-up the Welsh Valleys and transform them into the UK’s largest tech hub represent huge potential for the savvy entrepreneur, writes Julian Ruck

Earlier this year, ambitious plans were revealed to create the UK’s largest tech hub stretching across South Wales and the south-west of England. The “supercluster” of firms could rival Silicon Valley, according to Western Gateway, the cross-board partnership behind the venture. Its aim is to attract exciting start-ups and the world’s biggest firms working in artificial intelligence, quantum technology and advanced manufacturing to the region. This will create new jobs and “further strengthen the UK’s position as a cyber power”, according to Viscount Camrose, the government’s cyber minister.

Western Gateway’s vision looks likely to succeed, in part because the Welsh Government is already doing everything it can to change the torrid reputation of its Valleys – where job losses across numerous industries have left gaping holes in local employment and regional income – and to transform the region into a hotbed of emerging technologies. Its £100m ‘Tech Valleys’ scheme hopes to leverage £4bn of private investment across South East Wales and create a springboard for a new generation of high-growth companies.

But Western Gateway’s plan is likely to succeed for an altogether different reason, too. Despite heavy investment – from the Welsh Government and from Brussels – and matching hyperbole, the Welsh Valleys remain a place of low employment and high deprivation. Not so long ago, the region – stretching north from Cardiff – was part of one of the biggest coal-producing areas in the world, but its de-industrialisation has been deep and long-lasting, and decades of attempts to overcome economic blight have failed. Sugar-coat it we might, but the process of levelling-up the area will be long and expensive.

But for savvy investors and ‘think-outside-the-box’ start-ups, the region’s historic challenges represent a golden opportunity. Commercial property, for instance, is relatively cheap and plentiful; space does not, for the most part, come at a hefty premium. And firms working in or setting-up in the wider technology sector are, on balance, likely to receive substantial government backing. SIMBA Chain, a cloud-based tech company, is a case in point. The US firm set up shop in Ebbw Vale in 2021 and benefited from £737,000 funding – from the Tech Valleys scheme – in the process.

Spin aside, the Welsh Valleys are a world away from Silicon Valley in more ways than one, But their potential – untapped for the most part – is huge. Now, more than ever, is the time to cash in on the action.

Julian Ruck is an academic lawyer-turned political commentator, newspaper columnist and broadcaster with a focus on legal, societal, and political injustices in the Welsh and UK governments. He is the author of seven acclaimed novels and remains a columnist for two of Wales’ largest newspapers.

Main image: Courtesy Pexels/Sam Crowson