Welsh Assembly Government

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Welsh Assembly Government Regional Digital
Business Ecosystems in the Mon Menai
Areas Presented By Mr. Simon Lavin
E-Business - Strategy
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• Parallel Session Policy
• We aim to answer the following
• What policies and incentives are needed to build
  clusters for research and innovation in key
  development areas of any territory?

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Wales Region The development of DBEs across
the business sectors in the Welsh Economy is seen
by the Assembly government as being one of the
first of several steps towards the development of
a truly digital and competitive Welsh economy.
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The Historic Position

ICT Advisory Service

WIS Trailer Programme
SME-Business
Full ICT Integration
Opportunity Wales
e-business

• SMeBusiness
• MRP/ERP
• CRM
• Financial Sys.
• ICT Infrastructure
• Telecomms

e-commerce capability































Web presence
Basic use of ICT
Ubiquitous Broadband as a pre-requisite
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Impact of previous projects Businesses/individu
als assisted/advised Jobs
created 4,134 Jobs safeguarded 5,864 Events
organised 395 Delegates at events (total)
23,038
32,814
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• Lessons Learned
• Historically, the services delivered to SMEs in
  Wales were
• Fragmented in their approach
• Projects delivered independently of one another
• Confusion amongst business sectors
• Diminishing response
• Businesses were telling us they wanted to be
  better networked
• We needed to demonstrate Business Benefits of
  DNB
• Pilot Projects Required
• Development of Policy
• Writing DBE/Networked businesses into our ERDF
  
• framework projects and embedding in other sector
  thinking

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• Involvement in Peardrop Project
• Coincidentally
• Peardrop is a specific EU funded project aiming
  at helping Regions to take an active role in
  boosting local ICT Businesses Networking and
  Digital Business Ecosystems (DBE) deployment.
• Its principal focus is to make more accessible
  and more practicable the instruments for
  exploitation and deployment of research results
  in ICT for Enterprise Networking and DBE.

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The Welsh Economy in the Future

• Key sectors within Welsh Economy
• Enabling Sectors
• Energy
• Environmental Management
• Telecommunications ICT
• Tier 1 Sectors
• Bioscience
• Healthcare
• Financial Services
• Creative Industries

• Tier 2 Sectors
• Food
• Construction
• Retail
• Defence
• Leisure Tourism
• Aerospace
• Automotive

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Future E Business Support

E-Business Support
Digital Business Eco-systems
Networked E-Businesses
Full ICT Integration
e-business

• e-procurement
• e-tendering
• e-billing

• E-enabling horizontal partners and vertical
  supply chain

• MRP/ERP
• CRM
• Financial Sys.
• ICT Infrastructure
• Telecomms

E-Crime
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• Early Networked Projects
• Pilot digital business ecosystems are currently
  being developed in Wales in various business
  sectors.
• Projects currently being deployed include
• Wales Innovation Network
• Housing Association
• Mon Menai Tourism
• Plus many more
• E.g. creative industries and golfing sectors.

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• Regional Context Mentor Môn
• Anglesey (Môn) is the poorest area within Wales,
• Falls within the bottom quartile of the whole of
  Europe
• Closure of Wylfa Anglesey Aluminium 1500 jobs
  lost
• 7,948 Heritage sites in region
• port
• 154.5m (115 m) total tourism spend upon
  Anglesey in 2006

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• Choice of sector for DBE Deployment
• Workshop held in August 2007
• Involvement of Key Policy Makers
• Key Sectors Identified as
• Marine Sector
• Business Support Agencies
• Local supply chain (Wylfa de-commissioning)
• Logistics Tourism (intelligent port -
  Holyhead)

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• The Business Case for DBE deployment
• 1. Raise awareness of DBE and the potential
  benefits
• 2. Bring the relevant stakeholders together to
  
• -understand the concepts
• -consider potential deployment options
• The options identified were individually assessed
  to judge their potential economic impact for the
  region
• The readiness of the sectors and areas identified
  to begin the deployment planning process was also
  assessed
• A SWOT Analysis undertaken of region

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Awareness Raising Gaining Commitment of Key
Players
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• DBE Legal Governance Issues
• Workshop discussions
• Opted for consortium/partnership approach
• One lead organisation submitting a funding
  application

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• DBE Financial Planning
• A funding application to the EU Convergence
  Programme 2007-2013 is being planned with a
  target date of April 2008 for submission
• DBE has been included as a strategic objective in
  the Convergence Programme due to the policy
  influence from the eBusiness team in WAG
• DBE is also aligned with the strategic objectives
  of the national economic development strategy.

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• Comments Suggestions
• Broker role of policy maker is NB in linking DBE
  to the needs articulated by stakeholders in the
  region
• stakeholders are not likely to identify DBE as a
  solution themselves
• DBE is a cross-portfolio activity need to
  achieve buy-in and understanding in a number of
  areas
• need multiple champions
• this is achieved through a phased approach over
  time.

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• Conclusions
• The steps towards a fully integrated digitally
  networked economy involve adoption of DBE
  technologies within key sectors in a coordinated
  manner that permits cross sectoral integration.
• Previously, SMEs were unaware of the potential of
  Digital Business Ecosystems.
• Now, businesses are finally realising the
  benefits and proposals are being put forward to
  set up DBEs across a range of sectors.

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• Conclusions (cont.)
• What policies and incentives are needed to build
  clusters for research and innovation in key
  development areas of any territory?

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• Contact Details
• Mr. Simon Lavin
• Technology Innovation
• Department for the Economy Transport (DET) 
• Welsh Assembly Government
• Plas Glyndwr
• Kingsway
• Cardiff 
• CF10 3AH
• Tel [phone]
• Web www.wales.gov.uk 
• Email simon.lavin_at_wales.gsi.gov.uk

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