TRADE & INVEST | Good people do their best work in Wales THIS IS W ALES

Building a global Where heritage Collaborating to The race to a more technology cluster meets innovation fight cyber crime sustainable future

Contents 8. 24. 30. 46. 50. The value of innovation GE Aviation Nimbus Foods AMRC Calon Wen Welcome to a nation that supports The centre of excellence where the A tale of export success for the The centre that provides The dairy co-operative that has used innovators and helps ideas take world’s largest aircraft engine will company that adds sparkle to cakes gamechanging innovation smart networking to build a premium flight, says Eben Upton. be maintained. and confectionery. solutions to businesses of all sizes. export brand.

10. 32. FOCUS: Compound semi Fre-energy Beyond silicon —10. How patented Welsh technology is converting waste into a source An in-depth look at the world’s first of clean power. compound semiconductor cluster Editor: William Ham Bevan in South Wales. 52. Design & Art Direction: Smörgåsbord Contributors: David Adams, David Atkinson, CAF Kelly Rose Bradford, Paul Bray, Lucy Jolin, IQE —14. Nick Martindale, Penelope Rance, Julian Rollins Why the rail manufacturer chose Photography: David Ryle, Jonty Storey The leading supplier of atomically Illustrators: Jed de Pyper 36. Newport to assemble Wales’ next engineered wafers to the generation of trains. This is Wales is published by the Business Marketing semiconductor industry. FOCUS: Cyber security division of the Welsh Government © 2019. Fighting the cyber threat —38. Welsh Government, QED Centre, Newport Wafer Fab —16. Main Avenue, Treforest Industrial Estate, Our profile of the burgeoning Treforest, Pontypridd CF37 5YR Why the chip foundry is making cyber security industry – Print ISBN: 978-1-83876-783-9 ambitious plans to grow its represented by Cyber Wales. Digital ISBN: 978-1-83876-921-5 workforce and operations. This publication is available in braille, large-format print, and/or audio on request. It can also be downloaded Wolf berry —40. from: tradeandinvest.wales. SPTS Technologies —18. How ethical hacking helps firms 36362 © Crown copyright 2019, Welsh Government Manufacturing the wafer- find vulnerabilities and secure This magazine is also available in Welsh. processing equipment used by the their computer systems. Welsh Government cannot guarantee the accuracy top semiconductor makers. or reliability of the information in this publication and hereby disclaim any responsibility for any error, Pervade Software —42. omission or misrepresentation. Microsemi —22. An award-winning company The business of turning supplying technology to tech semiconductors into the building All content is available under the Open Government firms and police forces alike. Licence, except where otherwise stated. blocks of modern technology.

2 THIS IS WALES 3 58. 68. 76. 88. 98. 108. NiBS Castle Dairies Spirit of creativity FOCUS: Film & TV CellPath FOCUS: Fintech The Mid Wales battery company The family firm aiming to turn its Laura Davies, distillery manager How a strong focus on research is that has pioneered its own training traditional Welsh butter into an at Penderyn, on the revival of the keeping the diagnostics company courses for the industry. international brand. Welsh whisky industry. at the forefront of its field. 102. Bad Wolf —90. Capital Law Our TV and film section opens The entrepreneurial with a look at Wales’ biggest Cardiff law firm independent production company. that’s competing with the big names 4Wood TV and Film —92. in the City. Building the sets that film-makers rely upon to immerse viewers in Delio —110. their imaginative world. 62. 72. 78. A profile of the growing Cardiff Dragon Studios —94. software company kicks off our Collaborate to innovate JoJo Maman Bébé Adventure Parc Snowdonia look at Wales’ fintech industry. How world-class facilities and Professor Peter Halligan, Chief The Newport firm that’s one of the Why the UK’s only artificial surf stunning film locations are Scientific Adviser for Wales, on UK’s biggest names in maternity lagoon is just the first chapter for Vizolution —112. attracting productions to Wales. linking business and academia. clothing and babywear. the North Wales innovators. The tech firm with a mission to help businesses provide a better 64. 84. 96. remote customer experience. Seven symbols of innovation Dulas Frontgrid A swift look at Welsh ingenuity, 118. A renewable energy business whose The two former military parachutists enterprise and invention throughout technology helps fight disease in the using virtual reality to share the Ipsen the centuries. developing world. thrills of paragliding. 104. A centre of excellence in biological therapies, with state-of-the-art Ortho Clinical Diagnostics manufacturing facilities. An established South Wales company that supplies hospitals and laboratories around the world. 74. 114. Chemostrat AMPLYFI Chemical analysis specialists who Providing the tools to harvest serve the biggest players in the global vital information concealed in oil and gas industry. the deepest levels of the internet.

4 THIS IS WALES 5 INTRODUCTION verything we have as a species is the manufacturing capabilities that are competitive result of innovation: every difference with what bigger organisations can do offshore. between living in a cave and the life- That’s great, because these small start-ups style we have now. But innovation isn’t and scale-ups are a vital source of economic The value just about good ideas. Lots of people growth and innovation. Once you remove the Ehave bright ideas, and lots of people have the shackles of scale, they have the ability to create same bright idea. innovative products that previously would have The discourse on the business of technology been beyond the range of all but the largest tends to privilege ideas over execution, which is multinational companies. of innovation unhelpful. There are virtually no big technology Then there’s the role of government in EBEN UPTON companies who were the first to have the ideas industrial strategy. One area in which the Welsh Founder they now rely upon. Google wasn’t the first search Government has been successful is supporting Raspberry Pi engine, and the iPhone wasn’t the first mobile technology clusters. These provide scale and phone to run applications. Rather, successful bolster industry’s capacity to innovate. Eben Upton, founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, has built innovation is about having ideas, coming up In Wales, you already have world-class capa- with ways to turn those ideas into something bilities in aerospace engineering, and there’s the more than 10 million units of his revolutionary low-cost computer valuable to a customer, and then finding ways burgeoning cluster around compound semicon- in Wales — a nation that supports innovators and helps them to capture some of that value. ductors. Having a successful industrial policy Wales is a fantastic venue for innovation, means spending on the things that support realise the potential of their ideas. which is why we moved the bulk of the produc- innovation. They’re assets of society, and society tion of Raspberry Pi here within six months of needs to invest in them. launch. We have a proud tradition of industry Collaboration between academia and industry and manufacturing in Wales. is key. Universities are important as a talent source, When I spent time in Newport as a child in as a customer base, and as an environment in the 1980s, there was always a sense that it was which people can have freedom to think thoughts an industrial powerhouse. You had successful not immediately connected to economic return. companies – in particular, technology companies When industry wants someone to talk to about – providing opportunities for a skilled, motivated future innovations in production, future trends labour force. and future possibilities, it’s the local universities The Government and industry have put a they reach out to. lot of investment into infrastructure, and auto- It may seem a bit Utopian, but the presumption mation in particular, so we can compete on the we have to make is that things will continue to global stage. What’s exciting for me right now is get better; and if tomorrow is going to be better the democratisation of access to the equipment than today, in the same way that today is better that’s needed to innovate. than yesterday, then people are going to have to Manufacturers here have invested in auto- keep innovating. Good ideas, good execution and mation because salaries are high, and they good business-model design – all these things are Making Pi: can now offer technology innovators access to valuable, and we must keep on nurturing them. Right and facing page, the manufacturing facility at Pencoed

We have a proud tradition of industry and manufacturing

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Beyond silicon

The world’s first compound semiconductor cluster is taking shape in South Wales. It’s a unique partnership of universities, research centres and innovative companies, all driving forward the technology to power the next industrial revolution.

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hen explaining the potential of Compound Semiconductor Centre (CSC) – a compound semiconductors, Sam collaboration between IQE and Cardiff University Evans of Newport Wafer Fab that offers cutting-edge facilities to help researchers uses a simple analogy. “The first and industry work together. The Compound industrial revolution relied on Semiconductor Applications Catapult focuses Wsteam,” he says. “That made the magic happen. on helping the industry sector to exploit the Today, compound semiconductors are the steam advances made by researchers in key areas such – the enabling power – for what’s being called as healthcare, the digital economy, energy and the fourth industrial revolution. And we have space. Lastly, a Future Compound Semiconductor all the process knowledge to create that steam Manufacturing Hub will conduct research into in Wales.” large-scale manufacture of the devices. Compound semiconductors are atomically It’s an impressive offering, and one that has engineered materials that enable high-speed attracted significant investment from research processing hundreds of times faster than current investment funds and government at regional, silicon technologies. They’re already all around Welsh and UK level. “We see the power in clustering us – in fibre optic communications, in digital media and having regional capabilities, just like Silicon and sensing, including 3D face recognition, and Valley in the 1960s,” says IQE’s Chris Meadows. in the circuitry of almost every smartphone. But “Once you’ve reached a critical mass, you get what as the latest technological revolution promises I like to call the Hay-on-Wye effect. You may think, to turn both work and leisure upside down, their ‘Why would you have so many bookshops competing importance can scarcely be overstated. with each other?’ but the point is that people know “We’re talking about applications like 5G there are lots of bookshops, so they all go there. communications and artificial intelligence, or “It’s the same with Silicon Valley. It attracted enabling truly autonomous vehicles,” says Kevin people into the region because they knew they Crofton, president of SPTS and chairman of the could build a career – they could move from one Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult. company to another. And it provides opportuni- “These types of applications demand very high- ties to grow the cluster. Not only do you attract speed transmission rates to allow instantaneous people in, you attract further elements of the decision-making. When a driverless vehicle needs supply chain.” to decide how to avoid an impending accident or Jim Ryan, director of worldwide module whether there’s a pedestrian in front of it, you operations at Microsemi, a subsidiary of Micro- can only afford nanoseconds of delay in decision chip Technology, agrees. “It’s why we wanted making and action.” to be part of the cluster,” he says. “We could see Building the future: The South Wales cluster, branded as CSconnected, Work in a manufacturing a real opportunity for Wales if it offered fully brings together research and development compe- room at Microsemi integrated semiconductor solutions for customers tence and industry expertise with almost a complete in a one-stop shop. It means we can grow Wales’ supply chain in a very concentrated geographical CSCONNECTED economy by many times what would be possible area. Four companies are involved as collaboration Location if all we did was produce the chips themselves.” partners: IQE, which makes the wafers; Newport Nationwide And for the foreseeable future, the South Wafer Fab, which processes the chips; packaging Founded Wales cluster is likely to remain the only one of specialists Microsemi, a wholly owned subsidiary 2017 its kind. Kevin Crofton says: “There isn’t a region of Microchip Technology; and SPTS, which makes in the world right now that has the breadth of the equipment used in manufacture. compound semiconductor capability that exists They work closely with the five development here. If we can attract and retain talent, and get partners – organisations and institutions directly There isn’t another the educational systems aligned with our vision, involved in R&D and innovation. Core research we’ll be a centre of excellence for the world – not is carried out at the Institute for Compound region anywhere just for the UK or Wales. Semiconductors at Cardiff University, which will be “It could be a worldwide phenomenon. joined by Swansea University’s Centre for Integrative with our breadth We have the potential. We could evolve into Semiconductor Materials. Product, services and a Silicon Valley for the compound semi- skills development are the responsibility of the of capability conductor arena.”

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We’re almost guaranteed As we go forward to higher performance We have strong links with Welsh universities, and requirements with 5G, then the need for compound also with the likes of Bristol and Manchester, as IQE semiconductors and IQE’s products will increase well as institutions in Scotland. We’re working Location to be in every handset with that. A lot of other connected devices – particularly closely with Cardiff and Swansea: just Cardiff and Newport, including driverless vehicles with all their sensor last year, Cardiff University launched two Masters South Wales technologies, power management and so on – will degrees specific to compound semiconductors. Founded 1998 be dependent on them. They also recently announced that they’d won a Employees We’ve established a new site at Newport, and bid to create a centre for doctoral training based 180 between that and our existing Cardiff site, we expect on compound semiconductors. to take on 500 people. We’ve worked very closely It’s important to stress, too, that these are all with the Welsh Government, which owned the new hi-tech, high-value jobs. A couple of feasibility building – a former LG semiconductor plant. They studies, one by Cardiff University and one by transferred it over to the Cardiff Capital Region, KPMG, established that the average salaries are and now we’re their tenant, with an option to buy about two-and-a-half times the average for jobs in the plant over the next 11 years. manufacturing. Within IQE and across the wider White room: Because it’s a global business, we recruit cluster, we have a very attractive proposition for IQE’s cutting-edge in Wales, across the UK and internationally. talented people here. production site

IQE is the leading global supplier of the atomically engineered wafers that are made into advanced semiconductors. As corporate systems manager Chris Meadows explains, it’s a sector that demands a skilled workforce and provides high-value jobs.

Compound semiconductors have been around for a IQE has around a 60% global market share of long time, and IQE has been an integral part of the these components. Because mobile devices industry for the past three decades: we celebrated usually have several, we’re almost guaranteed our 30th anniversary last year. Government to be in every handset. support was one of the factors in our decision to We produce the atomically engineered wafers set up in South Wales. Another was our close links that can then be processed by chip fabrication to Cardiff University, which was already active in companies such as Newport Wafer Fab, using compound semiconductor research. equipment made by people like SPTS. They then Back then, compound semiconductor compo- get packaged by the likes of Microchip in Caldicot. nents in domestic appliances included things While we have the core of an industry sector like the lasers in CD players. Today, they’re in entirely within Wales, our markets are truly global: pretty much every mobile phone – not just the North America and the Far East are among the communications part, but things like sensor major ones. If you have a handset, the chances are technologies that switch the screen off when that the device and its components have travelled it’s close to your ear, or 3D sensing for facial ID. round the world a couple of times to get to you.

12 THIS IS WALES 13 What sort of client base do you serve? There are ambitious plans to grow the company and the cluster. How will you Q&A It’s worldwide. We’re an open-access foundry, recruit the right people? which means we can work with any semiconductor company that has designs they want to run in a It’s a challenge that we’ll meet with a mixture NEWPORT wafer fab, and we have customers all the way from of strategies. Some recruitment will be through WAFER FAB Forging Europe to South-East Asia and North America. universities such as Cardiff, supplying graduates Location and PhDs. We’ll also be upskilling our own people: Newport, South Wales How long has semiconductor fabrication we have a long tradition of identifying operators Founded 2017 SAM EVANS been going on at the Newport site? and putting them back through college. At the Employees moment, we’ve got 50 of our staff going through Director of external The site was set up in 1982 as INMOS, a British 46 affairs and quality further education. Newport Wafer Fab company set up to introduce silicon technologies into the UK. For the first 10 years we were an Overseas recruitment is also very important: it’s ahead integrated device manufacturer, designing and vital that we attract talented people to this part of shipping our own products, then we became a silicon the world. The benefit of a cluster is that if you’re foundry under the control of a Hong Kong company. moving your family from somewhere like Singa- We eventually became a research and development pore, you’re not confined to one company. centre for International Rectifier, which was bought In terms of a career span of 20 to 30 years, you by Infineon. They decided to sell the company, and in might end up moving from Newport Wafer Fab to September 2017 Newport Wafer Fab was acquired by Cardiff University for a while, or working at SPTS. Newport Wafer Fab is a silicon and compound semiconductor a local Cardiff-based entity called Neptune 6. We’re a foundry with the capability to produce the world’s most advanced private company now. What changes will we see at Newport as you expand the business? chips. Sam Evans, director of external affairs and quality, tells of What sort of support have you received We’ll be adding additional cleanroom investment. from the Welsh Government? the company’s ambitious plans for growth. We have the space to double the capacity and The Welsh Government has always been massively employment count at our site, and we’re already supportive of us in Newport. When Infineon working on the technology streams that will make wanted to sell the site, it was very proactive in that happen. We expect this to take place over the helping us to find a solution – which we did. next two to three years. Newport Wafer Fab is the largest semiconductor We also plan to establish an innovation village, site in Britain, and both the Welsh and UK which could potentially generate additional employ- Government understand its importance. To build ment of 300 to 400 people on cluster business. two wafer fabs of our size from scratch in a green That would be our major contribution to the 3,000- field with brand new equipment would be plus extra people the cluster is looking to employ. massively expensive.

Talent pipeline: Far left, work at the plant, designed by architect Richard Rogers. Left, the iconic exterior

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TOOLS FOR

TECH– wafer the manufactures and designs

NOLOGY SPTS Technologies global in the players major by used equipment processing up has built company the — and industry semiconductor research both aid to universities links Welsh with strong and recruitment. COMPOUND SEMI COMPOUND THIS IS WALES 16 FOCUS: FOCUS:COMPOUND SEMI

1 Assembly of the plasma processing module 2 SPTS president Kevin Crofton 3 Building a module for robotic handling of wafers

S P T S 1 TECHNOLOGIES Location n its publicity materials, SPTS Technologies arms provide valuable benefits for both parties. Newport, South Wales uses a four-word formula to sum up what it Crofton says: “If you were to go into the labs at Founded does: “We make electronics possible.” It’s Swansea University, you would definitely find 2009 Employees a bold claim, but not an unwarranted one. SPTS equipment there. Their undergraduate and 350 The Newport-based company provides the graduate programmes are using our equipment Iequipment used by many of the world’s leading to do experiments, to create pseudo-functional electronics manufacturers to turn silicon wafers to fully functional prototype devices and explore into advanced semiconductor devices. what’s possible. As a result of that, they get used As a result, we come into contact many times to using our equipment – and we can use that as each day with technology built using the company’s a way to attract them to us as they come out of equipment. Kevin Crofton, president of SPTS, says: the higher education system. “Imagine, for example, a micro-electro-mechan- “We sponsor graduates as well, with the idea ical machine system, a MEMS device, such as the that they come to work for us for a certain number airbag sensor in your car. That switch, which senses of years after they’ve finished their degree. With the change in momentum in a crash, is made of ongoing collaborative engagements with many of silicon – and there’s around a 75% chance it has the universities, the graduates get the opportunity been made on SPTS equipment. to do research in a commercial environment.” “Depending on the exact type of the device, Alongside the company’s collaborations its manufacture may involve as many as 2,000 with academia and the other companies in processes to go from bare silicon to the end the compound semiconductor cluster, Crofton product. We build equipment that addresses identifies a strong partnership with the Welsh anything from 50 to 100 of those processes.” Government as an essential ingredient in past Work this specialised demands a highly trained and future success. workforce. Crofton says: “We’re a very geeky company. He says: “You’ve got a devolved Government We need people such as plasma physicists, chemical that is hungry to support bringing in hi-tech engineers and mechanical engineers. In fact, around businesses, because – let’s face it – it’s good for half of our employees are qualified engineers or the economy. They take the attitude that we’re physicists of some nature, and many of them hold open for business, and they want to be part of that advanced degrees. We’re very active in grooming success; and they try to knock out bureaucracy in apprentices and graduates into our workforce – any way they can to make working together easy. hopefully drawing them into the company when “The ecosystem is already here. We’re all they leave school or finish their degrees – and we well-established companies: some of us go back hire a lot from within the EU as well.” 40 years in the semiconductor industry. And 2 3 The long-standing relationships between together, we’ve helped build a localised capability SPTS and Welsh universities and their commercial that exists nowhere else in the world.”

18 THIS IS WALES 19 In layperson’s terms, what does Microsemi do? What’s the prognosis for the business sector over the next decade? Q&A Our role within the cluster is to take the bare chips – ideally having had an input into their design and We’re certainly on a growth path, and have layout – and package them into a module, using been for many years. We expect that to continue, MICROSEMI various leading edge assembly technologies. because the offering that we have – building Location So, in the process of going from a chip to a module integrated, miniaturised packages for our Caldicot, South Wales Modular Founded to the end device motherboard, we typically work customers – is proving to be very attractive. 1983 in the middle layer. A feature of our modules is that you can Employees JIM RYAN design them quickly, and they’re very flexible To do that, we’ll mount the chip on a substrate, 100 to change in the early development stage. Director of WW normally a printed circuit board or flex circuit, module operations Microsemi and surround it with various components to If you want to re-design a piece of silicon, you’re come up with a subsystem. We’ll then provide talking about £100,000 to make a new mask set, building that as a fully tested building block for our ongoing whereas we can alter a module very quickly to get customers to build into their motherboards. into the market. That has been a very powerful We also do the final assembly of the motherboards offering for us, and we expect to keep growing. for certain customers – we’re able to offer a full Obviously, being part of the cluster, we’ll be able turnkey solution, from design all the way through to collaborate with our other partners to drive to manufacturing and aftermarket servicing. that through.

Microsemi, a subsidiary of Microchip Technology, specialises How are you developing tomorrow’s workforce? Aside from the cluster, what are the advantages of being located in Wales? in taking semiconductors and turning them into the modules It’s a key need within the cluster to have a powerful engine for skills development. As we’re a technol- A major one is proximity to a very strong support that form the building blocks of modern technology. Jim Ryan ogy company, we are naturally biased towards network, in terms of the Welsh Government shares his thoughts on the future of both company and cluster. building technical skills to service our particular and industry bodies. We work very closely with needs. We’re supporting and feeding into a universities – our technological virtual family – number of initiatives across South Wales that will so being close to Swansea University, Cardiff ensure we can upskill and recruit the right people University and the University of South Wales is for these roles. However, it’s also vital that we very important to us. I’d also include the Welsh generate increased skills in terms of leadership, workforce: the quality of people we’re able to so we can future-proof our business. It’s the same employ, their productivity and their loyalty to with all the companies in the cluster: we all need the company. That’s part of the culture within to think beyond the technical and make sure we’re this area. also fostering the business, commercial and leadership skills we need.

Chipping in: Packaging and inspecting the modules

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The world’s largest aircraft engine utting-edge engineering knowledge, rigorous stand- The Nantgarw site is no stranger to excellence. It’s one will be 10% more fuel-efficient than the GE90. It has been ards, constant innovation: the aviation industry of the largest aircraft maintenance facilities in the world, designed and produced for the new Boeing 777X aircraft, will be maintained at the GE Aviation has always demanded the best from its people and with more than 90 customers on its books and the ability to and it’s hoped that test engines will be on site in Nantgarw site in Nantgarw, South Wales. It’s the its products. That’s why global giant GE Aviation’s handle more than 500 engines a year. by the end of 2019. choice of its Nantgarw facility to maintain, repair Its engineering team wrote GE Aviation’s technical GE’s decision to bring the GE9X to Wales was by no latest vote of confidence in a facility Cand overhaul (MRO) its new GE9X engine is such a big deal, manual on overhauling engines (known internally as the means a foregone conclusion. Blakeney says: “We had that has achieved global recognition says managing director Nick Blakeney. “Bible”). And it’s one of just three facilities able to perform to work hard to win that contract. Of course, we have “Nothing is more exciting than having a brand-new the full MRO service on the GE90, currently the world's most the expertise and the experience. But the support and as a centre of excellence in the engine coming to the Wales facility,” he says. “We’re hoping powerful aircraft engine. encouragement we received from the Welsh Government aviation industry. to demonstrate best practice not just across GE Aviation, but The GE9X will place even greater demand on the site. really made a difference. The First Minister personally show that we’re world-class within the wider industry as well.” Once built, it will be the world's largest aircraft engine and travelled to our head office in Cincinnati to support us.

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“Having a devolved government means that GE AVIATION Wales is engaged and supportive of businesses, and there’s a real commitment to working together Location Nantgarw, South Wales in partnership. The Welsh Government has Founded supported the £20million investment.” 1991 The expertise that the Nantgarw facility relies We have the Employees upon hasn’t appeared out of nowhere. There’s 1,300 a long-standing and highly regarded appren- expertise, ticeship programme, which attracts on average around 400 candidates for between 20 and 25 the experience apprenticeship places every year, making it more selective than the world’s top universities. The and the support three-year course is run in partnership with the local FE college, Coleg y Cymoedd in Treforest. It’s an initiative that’s fundamental to the success of GE Aviation, says Blakeney. “The college is very close to the site, so apprentices can access an incredible hands-on, real-life learning experi- ence, and they get brilliant support from the rest of the workforce. Being such a big brand, GE is very attractive to young people. And the college are true partners: they are very responsive to our needs as a business and work closely to ensure that our business priorities are reflected in the course.” Learning doesn’t begin and end with appren- ticeships. A dedicated learning and develop- ment department co-ordinates and runs a wide range of personal development and job-specific Maintaining high standards: Below, servicing a GP7200 engine. courses. GE also has a close relationship with the Right, an apprentice at work University of South Wales through its Network75 programme, a five-year work and study route to a degree in which undergraduates apply their academic knowledge to real-life work within GE Aviation Wales. The programme has been turning out industry-ready graduates since 2000, with a 100% employment record. Nantgarw is also the place of choice for other GE technical staff to come for their training. Currently, around 40 engineers from Poland are studying in Wales to ready themselves for the GE9X. “We have become very important to the GE family, as they look to Wales for development and training,” says Blakeney. “It’s a massive vote of confidence in us as a site.” Wales, he points out, has a great manufacturing and engineering legacy. Nantgarw will continue to take that forward. The site’s five-year plan is aimed at staying competitive, increasing capacity and improving productivity. He says: “All these things are all going to be massive benefits for the Welsh economy – for the people we employ and for our business. There’s a real sense of pride, and people want to be part of this. And because aviation is always changing, there are even bigger things to come for our site in the future.”

26 THIS IS WALES 27 Where are we likely to encounter a How important are export sales? Nimbus product? Q&A If you go back two or three years, the split between Almost anywhere. Our ingredients are used our overseas and UK sales was 20 versus 80%. by all sorts of manufacturers, including major That has been changing. One of my strategies since NIMBUS FOODS businesses such as Mars and Nestlé. What we’re joining Nimbus has been to find new markets abroad, Location all about is helping to turn an ordinary product and now the export to UK split is around 40:60. Dolgellau, North Wales Sweet Founded into something extraordinary. Our ingredients We sell to 29 different countries around the world, 1996 and inclusions – such as sugar strands, fudge including Australia, Mauritius and South Africa. Employees cubes, honeycomb chips and marshmallows – We’re expecting that in the next few years, export 88 JACK PROCTOR add texture, flavour and colour. sales will keep growing, moving the split to around

Sales director 60:40. That’s to say, our UK sales will remain steady, Nimbus Foods What influenced Nimbus Foods but we’ll achieve growth in our export sales. Success to opt for a North Wales base?

Originally, we were established as part of a How did you find these overseas markets company called Halo Foods, which was a cereal for your products? bar manufacturer at Tywyn on the Gwynedd The key to our success has been having a presence coast. We made ingredients for Halo’s products. at the big international food exhibitions. Last Nimbus Foods was spun off as a separate company autumn we were part of the Welsh delegation a few miles away at Dolgellau. We remained part at the Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL) From fudge cubes in ice cream to marshmallow toppings for of the same group, but since then Nimbus has in Paris, which is the world’s biggest food been through several changes of ownership. hot chocolate, Nimbus Foods makes the ingredients that add innovation exhibition. The Welsh Government extra sparkle to our favourite treats — and they’re finding favour Valeo Foods bought Nimbus last year and has has been extremely helpful, subsidising the cost since made significant investments. We’re just of going along to events like SIAL. If they hadn’t, as far afield as Australia and South Africa, says Jack Proctor. planning the next stage of that expansion. We’re we wouldn’t have been able to take part: we’re in such a specialist, niche market that know-how a small company, and funds are limited. is more important than facilities or equipment. When I first joined, we didn’t go to these exhibi- Lots of our team have worked for Nimbus since tions, but since 2014 we’ve probably done 14 or 15. the 1990s, and it’s the knowledge of those guys You go to these events with meetings planned in that dictates the quality of our products. advance, but people will also just walk up to the

stand and introduce themselves with a view to Is sourcing the right people an issue? sourcing new suppliers. It’s very worthwhile. We’re the biggest employer in Dolgellau, which has a population of about 2,000 people. We recruit production and administration staff fairly easily in the town, and from a radius of about 20 miles. We do sometimes have to go further afield for more senior positions, but people have always been happy to relocate.

Have you collaborated with local colleges or universities? We have our own development team, but we also work closely with the Food Technology Centre at Coleg Menai, Llangefni, over on Anglesey. They do a lot of joint development work with us. Innovation is important. Much of what we do is driven by the customer, who will come to us with a detailed brief of what they’re looking for. For example, an ice cream manufacturer might ask for a fudge to put into ice cream that will stay soft and chewy. We’ll start working with those ideas, and then present back to them so that they Special ingredient: Adding flavourings and can select the option they want to take forward. churning the caramel

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We’re proud to say we

FRE-ENERGY Location Wrexham, North Wales use Welsh technology Founded 2007 Employees 5

Renewable energy isn’t just about solar panels and wind farms. Denise Nicholls, managing director of Fre-energy, explains how the Wrexham company’s patented technology is turning farm and food waste into useful power.

The “Fre” in our name stands for Farm Renewable able to say that we use Welsh technology which word about how our patented process can support direction for us, and we were pleased to be have Power plant: Environmental. Essentially, we process waste has been validated and is robust. Designed to an efficient waste management system for farms. been invited to take part in the project by Aber- Generating and storing bio gas at the Wrexham streams – predominantly those generated on process farm-generated wastes, it’s a year-round There’s good support for business owners in ystwyth University. Beyond this, we’re aiming facility farms, but also food waste – to capture the green- operation, day and night, and can reduce the Wales. My advice to entrepreneurs would be to get to develop new processes to enhance the social, house gases. We then convert these to generate impact of farming on the environment. Wales is out there and be proactive about exploring how economic and environmental benefits of the electricity, and we’re also currently looking to a very good fit for our business. It’s a place where each region would fit with your business aims. energy of the future. process the biogas into transportation fuels. the agricultural sector is still strong. Do your homework about what assistance and For me, North-East Wales has the best of The key to this is anaerobic digestion, a The ability to collaborate on research and tailored support is available. For example, we both worlds in that it’s close to the coast and biological process in which microorganisms break development with leading Welsh universities successfully applied in 2010 for a SMARTCymru countryside but also has great transport links. down biodegradable material. It’s a different such as Bangor, Swansea and Aberystwyth has Pre-Competitive Development Grant and used that I’m an environmental scientist by background approach to generating renewable energy than been particularly valuable to us. We have even money to secure the patent for our technology. and feel so lucky to live next to a 71-acre nature solar, wind or hydro power. I joined Fre-energy in part-funded a PhD student from Bangor University We’re expanding into new fields at Fre-en- reserve, Maes y Pant. It’s a former quarry that’s 2012. It’s an industry that’s still very much in the to investigate the environmental and economic ergy. We’re increasingly doing troubleshooting now managed by the local community, with embryonic stage as a contributor to generating benefits of the technology we have developed. work for failing plants, and we’re also working woodland trails and wonderful views across renewable energy and managing waste, as well There are currently five people in the company, as part of a bio-refining collaboration agreement the Dee Valley. Wales is a great place to find the as improving the health of our soils. and we always try to work with local organisations. between international industry and academia to perfect work–life balance. We’ve developed and patented our own ways We’re keen to support the next generation of scien- produce useful products from the waste streams of processing the waste, and we’re proud to be tists by sharing our knowledge – spreading the of the Indian sugarcane industry. This is a new

30 THIS IS WALES 31 WALES IS...

A culture of collaboration It’s good to talk. And within every industry sector in Wales, you’ll find established networks that bring businesses together. Bodies like the Welsh Automotive Forum, Aerospace Wales and the Electronic and Software Technologies Network help companies to collaborate, speak with a collective voice and find a way through common challenges.

ILLUSTRATION: JED DE PYPER

32 THIS IS WALES 33 FOCUS: CYBER SECURITY Joining forces against the cyber threat

Protecting computer systems from attack has never been more important. Wales is a place where cyber security firms can thrive, with a growing tech ecosystem, forward-thinking universities and active networking groups such as the Cyber Wales clusters.

34 THIS IS WALES 35 FOCUS: CYBER SECURITY “I want all cyber companies to grow and As an example of how this global collaboration develop their capabilities,” says Davies. “It’s not works, each country’s ecosystem undertakes about competition, as we have such a massive to provide a “soft landing” to help any other range of jobs and skill sets – from hardcore members who want to set up businesses in a CYBER WALES code-writing to hardware and software products, different country – such as advice, desk space Location and from governance to training. We have a tiny and introductions to key players. Already, cyber Nationwide Founded amount of competitive overlap and a huge range businesses from Israel and the UAE have used 2014 of complimentary tech, products and services.” the programme to establish a presence in Wales. Employees In just five years, Cyber Wales can point to This success, says Davies, means businesses 1,000+ numerous real-world successes. Six new limited are realising that they don’t need to go to London companies have grown out of members coming to find their cyber security experts. “If you’re a riendly, open and collaborative, together at meetings and deciding to start joint business in Wales, you’ve got 700 organisations with Welsh cakes for all: a typical ventures. It’s helping inward investment, too: that can help you with your cyber challenges. Cyber Wales meeting is not how most in 2017, Cyber Wales was invited to become one That's very reassuring. So when you need people would picture the supposedly of just 14 founding members of GlobalEPIC, an more staff, you can trawl the market and say to secretive cyber security industry. But “ecosystem of ecosystems” that includes MIT up-and-coming cyber people: come to Wales.” Faccording to John Davies, director of Pervade in the United States, the Hague Security Delta The Welsh government has been proactive Software and co-founder of the Cyber Wales in the Netherlands and CyberSpark, the Israeli in spreading the word about Cyber Wales, letting cluster, this kind of informal collaboration is Cyber Innovation Arena. businesses across the world know about our essential to take the sector forward. local expertise. What’s more, members have “As a nation, we’re very collaborative,” he been given all the help they need to take part says. “We do things for a cause, to help each other in large expos such as InfoSec, where they can and for the good of the wider community. The talk to global cyber companies and showcase cyber threat is huge and growing every day. If what they have to offer. we do not all work together to share knowledge, To ensure a steady stream of expertise, Cyber learn from each other and find new ways to fight Wales is working to develop a talent pipeline in cyber attacks, we won’t be able to combat it.” collaboration with specialist institutes. These In 2014, Davies established Cyber Wales include the National Cyber Security Academy with Dr Cerian Jones, partner at law firm UDL. at the University of South Wales – which relies Both felt that representatives of cyber security on small cyber companies coming up with teams should have a forum in which they could real-world challenges for students to provide discuss industry issues face to face. It began life invaluable experience – as well as Cardiff as the South Wales Cyber Security Cluster, a University’s Centre of Excellence in Cyber monthly meet-up for anyone involved in cyber Security Analytics, Swansea University’s new security to get together and chat. Specialists Computational Foundry and Glyndŵr Univer- such as Wolfberry Cyber soon joined to help sity’s Cyber Programmes. Members are also drive the idea forward. sharing their expertise as lecturers on Cardiff The idea grew rapidly. The following year Metropolitan University’s new cyber courses. saw the start of the North Wales Cyber Security A delegation will shortly be heading to Cluster, founded by Jason Davies of Hashtag Connecting people: Japan to help set up that country’s first ever Cyber in Wrexham. He says: “It got to the point Cyber Wales director cyber cluster. It’s evidence of the Cyber Wales where we couldn’t fit everyone who wanted to John Davies network’s global ambitions – something that’s attend in the car to go down south, so we formed entirely down to the goodwill and hard work of our own cluster." the members who have pushed the idea forward. This was followed by subject-specific clusters “All these clusters are entirely voluntary,” adds dealing with GDPR, IP Protection and Women John Davies. “So many people have stepped up in Cyber. The latest addition is an Education and said: ‘Someone needs to do this – it might as and Training cluster. All the groups are now well be us. Let’s collaborate and help each other included under the Cyber Wales umbrella. to grow our businesses, and make Wales a globally Cyber Wales has two main aims: to share The cyber recognised hub for cyber security expertise.” information and to encourage growth. To fulfil the first of these, Davies says he gathers and threat is huge shares “bucketloads” of information and guid- ance from the National Cyber Security Centre at and growing GCHQ, the UK Government, trade associations and the 19 other cyber clusters in the UK. every day Information exchange: Previous page and above, a Cyber Wales conference at the University of South Wales

36 THIS IS WALES 37 FOCUS: CYBER SECURITY

don’t just do systems testing any more; we also Pooling resources: do network monitoring and governance. We’re Wolf berry CEO Damon Rands We’re not secretive: hoping that projects like the Cyber Academy will become a talent pipeline for the cyber security WOLFBERRY industry. Location As for the future, the sky’s the limit. A year Newport, South Wales we like working together ago, I didn’t expect to have an office in Dubai. Founded 2017 We’re planning to expand and at least treble our Employees workforce, but we’ll be staying in Wales. I’m proud 11 to be Welsh, and I’m proud that my company is based here. It’s a wonderful place for cyber security companies because everything is on your doorstep, from fantastic broadband services to world-class universities – not to mention a A co-founder of Cyber Wales, Wolfberry helps firms secure wonderful quality of life. their computer systems against threats by attempting to breach their defences. It’s an exciting time to be part of this fast-moving and important field, says CEO Damon Rands.

Almost everything we do in modern life is managed has groups for both North and South Wales. Just Security service: and operated by computer systems. These systems six of us went to their first meeting, but we now Keeping critical IT are behind all our vital services, from hospitals have nearly 890 member businesses throughout systems safe to nuclear power stations. And because they’re the UK, and have been recognised internationally all connected to the internet, they’re vulnerable as a cyber ecosystem by GlobalEPIC. It’s expanding to cyber-attack. worldwide. We now have clusters in Dubai – where That’s where cyber security firms like Wolfberry Wolfberry also has an office – and Japan. We’re come in. We’re ethical hackers: we test systems looking at setting one up in Abu Dhabi. to find their weak points before the bad guys do. Through the cluster, we can collaborate We fix them, and we educate organisations to effectively, and this is great news for businesses understand the threats that their businesses face. in Wales who need our services. We’ve worked In the world of IT and technology, we’re used with other cyber security businesses on projects to companies understanding the importance of that previously would only have been viable if their computer systems operating smoothly. But carried out by large companies. Now we can operational ability doesn’t always go hand-in-hand pool our resources, and I think that’s the reason with security. It’s worth thinking of security on a we’re so successful. We’re not secretive and we sliding scale: at one end is usability and the other like working together. Likewise, we’ve had great end is security. The more usable something is, support from the Welsh Government, who have the less secure it becomes, and vice versa. got behind us and helped to create this ecosystem. The risks are not always obvious. For example, Wolfberry collaborates closely with academia. we worked with one company that specialised in We’ve done a lot of work with the Cyber Academy cleaning clothes. When we reviewed potential at the University of South Wales, which takes on threats, we came up with a list of threat actors that real-world projects to upskill its students, and included activists who might be very interested Swansea University. It’s all helping to address the in hacking their systems. The reason? One of their critical shortage of cyber security skills across the major clients was the nuclear power industry. globe – not just in Wales. It’s an exciting time to be working in this field Because of this, recruitment can be a challeng- in Wales. We’re very lucky to have the Cyber Wales ing task. We have to be careful to pick the right cluster, a group of cyber security businesses that staff as our company grows and diversifies. We

38 THIS IS WALES 39 MADE IN WALES

PERVADE ike many start-ups, Pervade owes put tenders in for large contracts or deal with Location its existence to a specific technical government agencies, and we could help provide Newport, South Wales Founded challenge – and a “eureka” moment that certification.” 2009 when its founders realised how it Taking these insights on board, Pervade Employees could be solved. In their case, the quickly developed a second product. OpAudit is 11 Lissue was one of cyber security, and the fact that a tracking tool that allows businesses to gather many businesses needed multiple pieces of and manage all evidence of compliance in one software to keep their computer systems safe. system. This includes technical data, signed Managing director John Davies says: “The statements from data handlers and questionnaires problem is that you need to monitor different from staff and suppliers. It’s a painless way of sources of data, such as the logs that register what’s ensuring both internal policies and external happening at any given moment, and configuration standards are upheld. files that tell you what’s installed on your system. Pervade’s portfolio has been expanded with These are very different types of data, so you need a third product, OpIndex. Designed to sniff out a separate database for each one. threats in the Dark Net – the parts of the internet “My business partner, who’s a programmer, beyond the reach of search engines – it has found said, ‘I think there’s a way to solve that, and create favour with businesses and law enforcement a database that can include all agencies alike. UK police forces now data types in one.’ After further rely on it for intelligence gathering, discussion, we decided to go for it. and it has already delivered the He quit his job as a tech manager insight that there more than six at a big American firm. We started times as many servers on the Dark Pervade in 2009 and by the end of We built an entire Net than previously believed. 2012, he’d written the entire data- database from the “That work, in turn, has base from the ground up – every attracted the interest of the mili- line of code.” ground up tary,” says Howells, “and we’ve had This formed the basis for the enquiries from the armed forces company’s first product, OpView. about our original product, OpView. Now deployed in more than 80 countries by The ability to have one person monitoring multiple clients including BT, Hitachi and JCB, it allows streams of data would be very useful in a forward security managers to collect, correlate and report operations base – perhaps in a tent in the middle all data types in one system, rather than have of nowhere.” to manually cross-reference information from A key to Pervade’s success has been its decision different screens. to go for steady growth rather than take venture At the end of 2013, a surprising piece of busi- capital, John Davies believes. He says: “We’re 100% ness intelligence prompted Pervade to tweak its self-owned, and we’ve never taken finance. We business strategy. Business solutions manager wanted to grow organically. It’s slow, but it gives Mark Howells says: “We decided to do some us total control over what we do next. If we’d been research, and asked our clients why they’d bought about massive growth, we’d have taken venture our product. It almost seemed too obvious to capital in 2012 for our monitoring software. ask: after all, it remains the only product on the “That would have locked us into one road: we’d SECURITY market that can do the job of several monitoring still be a monitoring company, and would never systems in one. have pivoted into the compliance market. That’s “However, it turned out that the real driv- not what we’re about. We’re doing what we want MADE SIMPLE ing force was compliance. Companies needed to do. We’re making a difference, creating some to prove they had robust IT policies in place to really cool stuff, and enjoying every minute of it.” With its three award-winning products, Pervade Software has applied fresh thinking to the processes of cyber security. It’s an approach that has won the company a wide and varied client base, from multinational tech firms to law enforcement agencies. Tackling the threat: business solutions manager Mark Howells

40 THIS IS WALES 41 Work, life, balance.

From the mountains to the coast, Wales is a country overflowing with wonder. Even in a publication full of technical innovation, it’s worth stepping back now and then to take in the splendour that surrounds us. Our great outdoors makes a perfect playground for family adventures – and now is the ideal time to go exploring, seek out new paths and find your own epic in Wales. visitwales.com/discovery

42 THIS IS WALES 43 FEATURE

Advanced thinking

With partners that include Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Boeing, AMRC offers game-changing innovation to manufacturers large and small. The launch of a new base in Broughton promises to bring the benefit of its expertise to Wales.

44 THIS IS WALES 45 FEATURE

AMRC irst established by the University of Recruitment of the first engineers for the Location Sheffield in 2001, the Advanced Manu- Broughton site began in early 2019. “We’re building Broughton, North Wales facturing Research Centre (AMRC) is up to about 30 engineers as quickly as we can,” Founded 2019 a network of world-class research and he says. “That’s because when we set up the Employees innovation centres. It has driven the original AMRC site, we thought we might get to 14 Fdevelopment of countless new industrial and 30 engineers in a few years. In fact, we outgrew engineering technologies – forging partnerships our first building within six months and we’ve with companies of all sizes across a wide range of grown exponentially since. We expect Broughton sectors, including aerospace, automotive, space, to take off in the same way.” construction, energy and medical. The new facility will also have a beneficial From an initial staff of nine, the AMRC now impact on the training and education of the employs more than 700 people across Northern local workforce. The Broughton leadership team England. And in 2019, it is gaining a Welsh base includes commercial director Nick Tyson, on with the launch of the Advanced Manufacturing secondment from his role as assistant principal Research Institute in Broughton, near the English and curriculum director at Coleg Cambria – one of border in Flintshire. the largest higher and further education colleges Executive director John Baragwanath says: in the UK. “We were set up to improve the performance of “We’ll be working with local education provid- We work with all manufacturing across South Yorkshire, but our ers, and appointing Nick means we have an remit has expanded to take in the whole of the immediate link to all the colleges and universities sorts of companies, UK and around the world. We carry out applied in Wales,” says Baragwanath. “At Sheffield, many engineering research to deliver innovative solu- of the techniques we develop subsequently find from start-ups to tions to industry, and we work with all sizes their way into the training curriculum. We intend of company – from dynamic start-ups to large that to happen in North Wales, too.” multinationals internationals such as Airbus and Rolls-Royce.” In its first phase, the new Institute at Broughton will focus on improving productivity, commer- cialisation, innovation and skills in the aerospace and automotive industries. It’s being created with a £20milllion investment from the Welsh Government, and it’s estimated that its work could increase Wales’ Gross Value Added (GVA) – a key economic indicator – by £4billion over 20 years. A great quality of life and access to a skilled One key factor in choosing Broughton was Nothing left to chance: Testing the engineered tools and equipment local workforce will attract other businesses and that Airbus, a longstanding AMRC partner, had their prospective employees to North Wales, a nearby facility. Another was the opportunity he believes. “It’s a really nice place to live, and to work with the Welsh Government. “They have that’s important when you’re looking to attract been excellent,” says Baragwanath. “Wales has inward investors. The first thing they do is look devolved decision-making, so things can happen around the countryside to see what that has to quickly, and Government officials have put a offer. North Wales has a good skills base and some lot of effort into introducing AMRC to potential large companies – so if you’re a small business partners across the country. They have ensured wanting to set up as a supply chain company, it’s we are off to a flying start.” an ideal location.” The Broughton site forms one point of a What’s more, Baragwanath is determined that geographical triangle for the AMRC, with other Broughton is just the start of AMRC’s engagement major facilities at Catcliffe near Sheffield and with Wales. “This is the first phase,” he says. “Watch Preston in Lancashire. “It’s the Northern Power- this space. Hopefully we’re going to outgrow this house in action, if you like,” says Baragwanath. building within a couple of years, and we’ll be “We’re joining up high-value manufacturing looking to set up new facilities in Wales.” across the North to help rebalance our economy and create high-value skills and jobs that will drive the digital Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Kit inspection: Using virtual reality to check equipment status

46 THIS IS WALES 47 FIRST PERSON

We always bring

CALON WEN Location Narberth, West Wales business back to Wales Founded 2000 Employees 9

Organic dairy co-operative Calon Wen has grown into a premium export brand — proving the value of a strong international presence, says globetrotting sales manager Stuart McNally.

Calon Wen is a co-operative of 21 farmers from to have Welsh speakers on our staff. We attend trade links from a laptop doesn’t cut it; personal We’re not neglecting the UK market. We’re Scene of the herd: Above left and above, across Wales, and an organic ethos is behind around 20 events each year, including the Royal relationships matter overseas. By going out there currently involved in Project London with Total a dairy farm at Narbeth. everything we do. We have an overall turnover Welsh Show and music festivals. and meeting people face to face, it shows we’re Food Marketing, which works with Welsh food Top, managing director of £9.5million, and we work hard to ensure a fair Networks are important for everyone doing serious about growing our business. and drink producers to provide expertise and David Miles price for all our farmers. We produce around 20 business in Wales. We’re members of the Fine We will be shipping our first produce to Qatar business mentoring. We’ll be focusing on London million litres of milk per year, and the product Foods Wales Cluster – part of the Food and Drink shortly with a range of cheese, butter and frozen over the next 12 months: it’s an important market, range includes butter, cheese and frozen yoghurt. Wales Cluster Network – which comes together yoghurt. Organic produce has a real kudos in the as 70% of all organic sales are currently within All our production is outsourced, and we work to share good practice and invite along guest Middle East, and it attracts a premium price. In the M25 area. with Welsh companies wherever possible. Plas speakers. There’s also the Food and Drink Wales Qatar, I found the average food spend per person The support we get from the Welsh Government Farm on Anglesey handles our frozen yoghurt, Export Club. is equivalent to £118 per week, compared with is unrivalled. It was a real eye-opener for me to for example, while Gower View Foods at Cross Export is a major focus for our business. Our just £43 in the UK. find that you can always pick up the phone and Hands in Carmarthenshire produces all our butter. five-year plan is that 30% of our total revenue will Brand Wales is growing on the international ask for expert advice. Given the rural locations Keeping jobs in Wales is vital to us, and it supports come from overseas sales. I’ve been on several stage, and there’s a real sense of momentum. of many businesses in Wales, working together our low-food-miles philosophy. Welsh Government trade missions to the Middle Gareth Bale has made a difference, as has the start is essential. Recruitment isn’t a problem. We’re in the East and have always brought new business back of Qatar Airways flights from Cardiff Airport – plus And however wide we can cast our net, we’ll fortunate position that lots of people want to to Wales. the exposure through our presence at headline always be a Welsh company – it’s intrinsic to our move back to West Wales. We get a good response The Export Club offered help in setting up events here in the UK. We are regulars at Taste success. With the support of Welsh Government, to adverts for new positions and attract a high one-to-one meetings with local companies, Wales at the Celtic Manor Resort. These events we believe we can increase our capacity and calibre of candidates. And we think it’s valuable and this has proved invaluable. Trying to set up are a great way for us to pick up new business. secure more jobs for the future.

48 THIS IS WALES 49 MADE IN WALES S

Rail vehicle manufacturer CAF considered ’ more than 100 locations before picking Newport for its flagship UK assembly plant. The facility is already designing a new generation of trains for the Welsh network, in an order worth more than £400million. W O FOR R R

ON O

M

O T TRACK RAILWAY

50 THIS IS WALES 51 MADE IN WALES

efore too long, when you board a train at Bangor, Over the next few years, scores of these trains will enter It’s a coup for Newport, and for Wales as a whole. Since the in Newport’s favour. However, with every UK region offering Aberystwyth or Cardiff Central, you may notice service across the Wales and Borders rail franchise operated 1990s, Spanish-owned CAF has won many major orders in the similar incentives, it was the other advantages of the South a few improvements in your journey. Over the by Transport for Wales. What’s particularly gratifying is UK, from clients including Heathrow Express, Northern Ireland Wales location that tipped the balance, according to CAF coming years, the old Sprinter and Pacer trains are that more than 70 of them will be built in Wales, at the new Railways and the tram networks of Birmingham and Edinburgh. Rolling Stock UK’s chief programme director, Graham Taylor. to be replaced by new rolling stock with generous CAF assembly plant at Celtic Business Park in Newport. In 2016 the company resolved to set up a major assembly plant “Funding was important, but not critical,” says Taylor. Blegroom, air conditioning, real-time information screens, USB CAF will initially be supplying 44 two-car and 26 three-car in the country. After a UK-wide search that considered more “My advice to anyone looking to relocate is that if it’s not the charging sockets and Wi-Fi. Seats will even be aligned with diesel multiple units, then a further seven two-car units by than 100 potential sites, Newport emerged as the clear winner. right location, no amount of funding can make it right. What’s the windows so passengers can best enjoy the magnificent September 2024. The final tally will be 180 vehicles, at a cost A multi-million pound funding package from the Welsh important is infrastructure, transport links, access to local Welsh scenery. of more than £400million. Government’s inward investment programme was one factor labour, a positive attitude from government – things that will

52 THIS IS WALES 53 MADE IN WALES

be key parts of your presence in the area well CAF after any funding has ended.” The South Location On this score, Newport and Wales provided Newport, South Wales everything CAF needed. “We were very pleased Wales economy Founded about the availability of suitable skilled labour,” 2018 Employees he says. “Recruitment has gone even better than has engineering 300 by mid 2020s we expected, and that’s important. Now that we’re established, we’ll continue to grow and need in its DNA additional staff – and the South Wales economy has engineering in its DNA.” When recruitment is complete, CAF’s work- force at Newport will number more than 300. The company took delivery of the £30million, 46,000 sq m plant in 2018, and production started shortly afterwards. Good transport links were vital, including easy access to the UK’s national rail network. The company is already looking to fill its order “Being able to deliver our product directly from book beyond the Transport for Wales contract. the site was one of our key criteria, and the Welsh Taylor says: “Newport is a rail vehicle assembly Government’s commitment to developing a factory, currently set up to do standard UK gauge, new station at nearby Llanwern will give us even so we could potentially build anything from trams better access. And the removal of tolls on the or the likes of Docklands Light Railway trains, Severn Bridge means people living in Bristol are right the way up to high-speed trains for HS2.” more open to us as potential employees.” The 300-plus jobs at Newport could be just a CAF’s whole experience has been that Wales small slice of the total benefit to the Welsh economy. is investment-ready. Taylor says: “The Welsh “We’re essentially becoming a hub, and I’ve been Government have demonstrated very strongly working closely with government on how we can that they have an environment that’s open, and attract tier-one suppliers,” he says. “Gathering a they’ve continued to engage with us long after supply chain around us that will provide more the champagne bubbles have died away. Now that value into the local economy will be great for we’re through the development phase and into everybody – and the politicians and civil servants operations they’re still very keen to work with us.” have been working hard to make it happen.”

Doing the locomotion: Left and previous page, construction in progress. Right, programme director Graham Taylor

54 THIS IS WALES 55 What drove the company to relocate from What’s the attraction of Wales for your Q&A Scotland to Powys in the 1990s? company, and for businesses in general? Partly, it was the potential support. Ever since Culture and talent. There are a lot of very capable Empowering the days of the Mersey Dee Alliance (MDA) in the people who were brought up here, have gone to N i BS 1980s, Wales has been known to back industry. university, developed tremendous skills, and now Location We’re now right on the border with England, and want to come back. We’re able to get well-qualified Llanymynech, Mid Wales GRANT BRACKLEY while the founder, Bob Gilliard, could have estab- people because it’s the lifestyle they want as much Founded 1992 Commercial director lished the business on the English side, he realised as the work. NiBS Employees that this support plus competitive rent and rates Our belief as a company is that it’s the culture 22 the people made it more advantageous to be located in Wales. that matters. We look after our staff and our

customers, we do the right things environmentally, You operate in a specialised industry. Does and we reinvest to make sure we’re moving Powys offer a good access to the right talent? forward as a company. Our culture fits very Our core business is in battery supply, installation comfortably in Wales in that context. and servicing – plus training. We operate through- out the UK, and our site engineers can be based What’s in the pipeline for NiBS? anywhere in the country. But because the battery One of the frustrations I have is that people are industry is very bespoke in its requirements, we obsessed with growth. By contrast, what we’re prefer to train apprentices to grow our business. To address the lack of training courses for the industrial after is a company that’s sustainable. This is a battery industry, Mid Wales firmNiBS established its own. Our first apprentice, Rob, has now been with us family-owned business and we have no debts or for 12 years, and we’ve had a dozen more over that commercial shareholders. We’re about making a Grant Brackley explains why producing qualified personnel period. We’ve never had a problem getting the right reasonable profit, and we invest that in the is essential to the sector. quality of person: there’s obviously talent out there. business.

It’s all about being built on solid foundations, so How important has it been to create a that the company carries on for a long, long time. qualification geared to the industry? Instead of having another 50 jobs this year, 50 It’s been a bugbear of Bob and his son Chris, the next year and then imploding, we’d prefer to current MD, that people can work on batteries support 25 jobs over 100 years. That sort of with absolutely no qualifications, so we developed long-term vision is far more important to us. the EAL-accredited, Ofqual-approved VRQ Level 3 in Standby Battery Systems. It takes up to two years, and all our site engineers are put through it. We also deliver one and two-day battery awareness courses, and are in the process of getting those accredited. This gives us an enormous market. We’ve trained warehouse people who work with batteries, people who install them, employees of major car companies and workers in the nuclear sector. Creating suitably qualified and experienced personnel is fundamental to our industry.

Our belief as a company is that

it’s the culture Leading the charge: Far left, cutting-edge battery technology. that matters Above, a training day

56 THIS IS WALES 57 WALES IS... Turning heritage on its head

Once, it was the world’s largest slate quarry. Today, you can get clipped up to a zip line and soar above it at more than 100mph. It’s an example of how Wales is creating new adventures out of its industrial heritage. And for further thrills, how about surfing artificial waves at a former metal works or trampolining in a mine chamber, deep underground?

ILLUSTRATION: JED DE PYPER

58 THIS IS WALES 59 OPINION

n the last year, since taking over as Chief Research Imaging Centre – I am really pleased Scientific Adviser for Wales, I’ve spent time to see how the centre has been transformed travelling across the country and learning by a £44million investment, moving to a new more about the huge range of research and purpose-built location. It is one of the jewels in innovation that takes place in our univer- our life-sciences crown, alongside the MRC Centre Isities and businesses. It’s a part of the Welsh for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics and economy with an unrivalled capacity to grow the new Centre for Ageing and Dementia. and generate inward investment, which is why Within the UK, Wales is the most efficient research and innovation are so vital in helping nation at translating its funding into high-quality, us achieve the Welsh Government’s objectives high-impact research. Using field-weighted citation for prosperity, security and wellbeing. impact, which compares the number of citations Wales’ growing research profile is character- received by a research publication to an expected ised by several areas of excellence, international average, Wales’ performance has risen over the engagement and real-world impact. Recent past 16 years to such an extent that it’s now above groundbreaking developments in Wales span the other UK nations, and ahead of Denmark, the diverse fields – including biotechnology (such Netherlands and Finland. Areas where Wales is as the identification of diagnostic biomarkers doing particularly well include natural and medical for detecting early-stage lung cancer), energy sciences, engineering and technology. (the patenting of microbial fuel cell technology), So how is Wales achieving such success? One medicine (the development of treatment for key factor is the increase in international collab- neurodegenerative diseases) and optoelectronics oration. This type of “research without borders” (next-generation computer graphics based on ray supports cutting-edge R&D by providing access tracing and photon mapping). to infrastructure, expertise, data and popula- In terms of innovation, Wales outperforms the tion aggregation at a scale beyond the reach of European average in terms of collaborating with one nation alone. The principles of excellence SMEs, lifelong learning, scientific publications and competitiveness that underpin European and sales of new-to-market innovations. In 2017, collaboration have helped drive up the quality we were also ranked as the top “Strong Innovator” of research outputs and contribute to higher in the Regional Innovation Scoreboard. Wales skills levels. Over the past 18 years, structural has made impressive progress in leveraging funds allocated by the Welsh Government to our academic base and developing links with research and innovation have helped grow our business. For example, Wales is indisputably international research base and facilitated greater an international leader in the field of compound international collaboration. semiconductors – a topic covered in depth else- In a recent evaluation, nearly 70% of Wales’ where in this magazine. academic publications were international – one Cutting-edge innovation can be found in all of the highest rates of the UK nations – and these Inspiration. parts of Wales. At Swansea University, there’s involved Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the SPECIFIC – a centre developing building mate- Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Wales rials that can actually generate energy. This has has seen collaborations with places such as the gained significant international attention and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Tech- funding. cyber security is another area in which nology, and Harvard and Berkeley Universities Collaboration. we have a large number of supply companies and in the United States. This is not just a matter of academic institutions – notably Cardiff University partnership between higher-education institu- and the University of South Wales – all working tions, but long-term relationships that involve together. In North Wales there are exciting facilities many research organisations and charities. Innovation. such as the Deeside Advanced Manufacturing The impact of Welsh research innovation Wales has made Research Institute and the new Menai Science can be seen in national and international policy, Park operated by Bangor University, with plans health and social care, science and engineering, Welcome to a nation where academia, business exceptional for an advanced nuclear research facility. Here, creative industries, energy and environment, and government work together to produce research progress in the Welsh Government is funding two chairs at education, food and agriculture. Across these the Nuclear Futures Institute. sectors and more, Wales is providing solutions to breakthroughs with real-world impact, says Professor leveraging its As a neuroscientist involved in setting up multidisciplinary problems that cross national Peter Halligan, Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales. academic base the first CUBRIC – Cardiff University Brain boundaries in search of productive solutions.

60 THIS IS WALES 61 FEATURE

We’re a chilled– out place to work

Based in the market town of Machynlleth, Dulas is an award-winning renewable energy firm whose refrigeration technology is helping to fight disease in the developing world — and its co-operative model means every employee has a stake.

62 THIS IS WALES 63 FEATURE

nce Owain Glyndŵr’s capital of DULAS Dulas works with UNICEF to supply fridges for Wales, Machynlleth has become Location the Gavi programme, a global health partnership equally notable as the capital of Machynlleth, Mid Wales that provides access to immunisation in poorer Wales’ alternative energy industry. A Founded countries. And while the company’s ethical stance 1982 cluster of innovative companies have Employees is one factor in attracting and retaining the right Ocarried the town’s name – and locally developed 57 staff, Chapman admits there is another attraction technology – throughout the world. – the spectacular setting of its headquarters on Dulas is among Machynlleth’s success stories, the southern fringe of Snowdonia National Park. and its wind-power, hydro-power and solar designs “The Dyfi Forest has excellent mountain biking have been deployed in the UK, throughout Europe trails and mountains,” she says. “Cadair Idris is and across the developing world. The company’s just to the north, and the beach at Aberdovey is dedication to sustainability and its enlightened 20 minutes away.” New generation technology: Nerve centre: workplace practices have earned an impressive Interim managing director Ruth Chapman Right, the Dulas offices Indeed, a good work–life balance is some- list of accolades – including the Queen’s Award and Machynlleth. Below, thing Dulas is keen for its staff to maintain, for Enterprise in 2004, the 2016 Welsh Social a directional wind vane with HR policies and procedures that support Business of the Year, and the Working Families flexible working and help employees to take up Best for Motherhood award in 2017. commitments outside the office. Chapman says: The company operates out of two units at “We have quite a few people who are trained as the Dyfi Eco Parc in Machynlleth: one owned by mountain rescue climbers, or work as lifeboat Dulas, and one rented from the Welsh Govern- crew. They can do shifts that allow them to be ment, which had it purpose-built. It’s testament on call-out for those services. to a close working partnership, explains the firm’s managing director, Ruth Chapman. “We have an account manager who comes and sees us quite regularly,” she says. “He’ll always try to spot opportunities for us to engage with any useful programmes the Welsh Government may Our people are be running.” Dulas can also call upon the help of a Welsh passionate about Government innovation specialist, who has helped to secure funding for one of the company’s renewables most groundbreaking designs – a refrigerator that enables vaccines to safely be stored in the developing world where there is no access to mains “We all work extremely hard, and we’re all electricity. First designed by the original Dulas very dedicated to what we want to achieve within team at Machynlleth’s Centre for Alternative Dulas. But along with that, we get to have much Technology in the 1980s, original models used more of a work–life balance here in Mid Wales solar power during the day but required batteries than I believe you would get anywhere else.” to maintain power after dark. There’s a high level of staff retention – However, batteries are no longer required in and thanks to the firm’s co-operative business the latest generation of fridges. “We identified model, all employees have a say in its direction. there was a gap in the market for battery-free solar Chapman says: “Our people are passionate about fridges,” says Chapman, “and the Welsh Govern- the renewables industry, and they’re passionate ment gave us some funding to develop prototypes. about Dulas. Every member of the company has We designed fridges that are lined with a special an equal share, which basically gives them a ‘phase change’ material, which freezes and thaws at right to have a say on the strategic direction of +5 degrees Celsius. When it gets dark, the material the company. slowly melts, and this maintains the temperature “We have an annual AGM at which the throughout the night.” strategy and the budget is presented, and that goes to a vote. It gives every single person a voice – and makes Dulas feel more of a family than a business.”

64 THIS IS WALES 65 MADE IN WALES

SPREADING THE WORD

A family firm rooted in Caerphilly, Castle Dairies has been churning butter from rich Welsh cream for more than half a century. After major investment, it’s now looking to take its products to breakfast tables across the world.

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1 CASTLE DAIRIES very pack of Welsh butter from Castle probably play a role in future development.” 1 Managing director Nigel Lloyd Location Dairies has a distinctive hallmark: a The Welsh Government is also supporting 2 The production line Caerphilly, South Wales rampant dragon enclosed in a styl- the company’s ambition to bring its products to 3 Packaging the butter Founded ised outline of Caerphilly Castle. It’s kitchens and breakfast tables overseas. Nigel says: 4 The churning process 1966 Employees a proud declaration of origin, both “In terms of exports, I think our Government have 70 Enational and local, and one that’s more than one of the best systems in the UK. They realised justified. Since the company started trading 53 at an early stage that exports, especially in the years ago, it has used Welsh ingredients to create food sector, are critical for Welsh businesses. its traditional Welsh dairy products. “They attend most of the large trade fairs, Today, Castle Dairies is seeking to ride the wave subsidising stands that companies can access. One of international demand for Welsh produce, and of our export sales managers attended Gulfood buying locally remains at the heart of its ethos. 2019 in Dubai, and the Welsh Government helped “We purchase our cream from supply dairies with his travel arrangements.” 2 in Wales,” says managing director Nigel Lloyd, Castle Dairies has also taken part in a promising who took over from his father John in 2000. “It’s trade mission to New York, sounding out the US logistically important to be close market. “We’re dipping our toe in to cream-producing centres – for the water because exporting does transportation costs and also for require a lot of homework. It’s not our environmental footprint.” something that should be taken Local expertise is as vital to Exporting requires lightly, but we believe that the risks the firm as local ingredients, and can be covered with the help of the a partnership with Cardiff Metro- a lot of homework Welsh Government.” politan University helps to keep the —it’s not to be taken Carrying the brand across the necessary skills in Wales. Nigel says: Atlantic would have seemed like 3 “We run knowledge transfer projects lightly an impossible dream when John with the university to educate our Lloyd started at Castle Dairies in staff in sensory analysis and develop 1968 as a delivery driver – or even new techniques in measuring quality. As for when he took over the firm 18 years later in a recruitment of higher-skilled staff – engineers, management buyout. Despite passing control to new-product development and technical staff – Nigel at the start of the millennium, he continues we’ve been able to find some very high-quality as chairman; and he’s not alone in his long-term people. Wales has got a good skill set in that area.” commitment to the company. Demand for Castle’s Welsh butter is booming, “We’ve got a lot of staff here who have been 4 and this has prompted the firm to invest around with us for more than 30 years, or even 40 years,” £1million in infrastructure and product develop- says Nigel. “I think that bedrock in the community ment. “Over the past two years, there has been a is very important. It sets the culture, the way that tremendous investment in the company to set we treat people. I’d like to think we offer a lot of it up for future growth,” says Nigel. “We put in flexibility as an employer, and people know who a very sophisticated cold-mix spreadable plant, the owners are. They know we’re committed to one of only two or three in the UK, and created a the area.” new product development department.” So in due course, will the company see a third Financial support from the Welsh Government generation of the family taking the helm? Nigel has helped the company realise its plans. “Over admits it’s too early to commit his 14-year-old son the years, the Welsh Assembly has been very to the business. But he’s confident that Caerphilly supportive,” he says. “We’ve had grant aid to help Castle and its dragon will be appearing on butter us with capital expenditure. This has been critical packs, in Wales and further afield, for many years in retaining and enhancing employment, and will to come.

68 THIS IS WALES 69 FIRST PERSON students need for our industry. We have both graduate and non-graduate trainee programmes, and we run work placements for local schools. Over the last two generations, we’ve seen South Wales move away from heavy industry, but the Welsh Government and local This is a great place education providers have been focused on ensur- JOJO MAMAN BÉBÉ ing that students come through the system with Location the qualifications that modern businesses are Newport, South Wales looking for. Founded to run a global operation Staff development is important to us, too. If 1993 someone on our team wants to pursue studies that Employees 180 (HQ) will be of benefit to themselves or to the company, 900 (across company) we’ll support them. Ours is a busy workplace and we’re a growing company, so people need to work around the pressures of the business; but where possible, we’ll give them the time to study and revise for exams. Empowering people through education is essential. All our people have to have an international mindset. JoJo Maman Bébé now ships to around 56 countries on the trade business side, and we have two international websites, selling directly to consumers in Ireland and America. We send our Welsh teams all across the world to meet wholesale clients or train our local workforce. Laura Tenison has grown JoJo Maman Bébé into one of Brit- Our four stores in the United States are run ain’s biggest names in maternity clothing and babywear, with directly from our retail operations team in Wales. We want our American customers to be able to more than 90 UK stores and a rising international profile. She talk to JoJo rather than go through a local call explains why corporate responsibility and a dedicated Welsh centre, so we have a US customer services team here in Newport, working an evening shift to workforce are key to its success. allow for the time difference. It’s important to me that the world sees Wales as an international, outward-facing country. We’re not insular – we are the “Global Welsh”. I started a Welsh company with a French name The other motto that was drilled into me was because I wanted to make clear that we had inter- “do unto others as you would have them do unto Boss’s little helper: national ambitions. Wales isn’t just a beautiful you”. If you look after your team, it makes for a far Above, some downtime country; it’s a great place to run a global opera- better and friendlier working environment, and with rescue dog Ruby Tuesday. Right, stock at tion. We have extremely good communications the business gets much more out of everyone. The the warehouse. Far right, networks. It’s easily practicable to commute workforce we’ve built up in South Wales is loyal and Laura at the Newport site from South Wales to London, where we have our dedicated, and employees stay with us for a long marketing and design office, and Heathrow is less time. This means we have people in operational than two hours from our base in Newport. We’re roles who know the brand well and understand part of Europe and part of the world. our values. It gives them the chance to get better The JoJo Maman Bébé ethos has always and better at their jobs – and as long as we keep been to put social responsibility above profit. I up with the latest technological advances, they come from a large family, and I’ve tried to stay become more productive. true to two of my mother’s mottos. The first is We work hard to ensure we can recruit from “waste not, want not”. When I worked for other within Wales. It’s a great shame when companies people, I couldn’t fathom all the wastefulness I are crying out for a particular skill set and young encountered, and was determined to run a lean people are looking for good jobs, but the two just and efficient business when I started up on my aren’t connecting. We liaise with colleges and own. That’s why we’ve always aimed to be envi- educational establishments across our region, ronmentally responsible – even before the term and I’ve spent time lecturing in local universities became part of our vocabulary. and advising course directors on the skills that

70 THIS IS WALES 71 Chemostrat is an unusual company – You’ve received support for expansion, Q&A can you tell us about what it does? export and R&D. How important has this been? The Hafren Scientific Group, of which Chemostrat When we moved to Welshpool, we received Welsh is part, offers analytical solutions in sectors ranging Government grant support for specialist software, CHEMOSTRAT from oil and gas to mining, archaeology, water laboratory equipment and instrumentation, office Location analysis and environmental studies. One example fit-out and IT support. This gave us a commercial Welshpool, Mid Wales Mineral Founded of Chemostrat services is the elemental finger- advantage to grow expeditiously rather than by a 1994 printing of rocks. All rocks have a unique signa- slower, organic process. It enabled us to take advan- Employees ture, which makes it possible to map changes in tage of a growing market for our services. We’ve EDDIE MERRICK 36 (UK) layering. This is useful in assisting international oil also received support for specialist training and Director of companies in oil or gas exploration and develop- staff, and for conferences and business trips glob- international operations Chemostrat ment opportunities. ally. That has increased our international footprint.

We’ve grown from a two-person operation to a wealth Do you think Wales is fertile ground for anyone world-class analytical laboratory that can analyse with an innovative business idea? more than 20,000 samples per year. As well as our base in Welshpool, we have offices in Houston, The support structure is definitely here. You have Calgary and Perth (Western Australia). access to decision-makers in the Welsh Govern- ment and a desire from Welsh universities to We take our laboratory services to oil well sites partner with innovative companies. This, coupled and other remote locations, and we were the first Chemostrat undertakes chemical analysis of sedimentary with a positive attitude from the Welsh economy, company in the world to offer chemostratigraphy provides the right environment for developing rock for the biggest players in the global oil and gas industry. services on site. In 2001 we entered into a 10-year ideas into business prospects. Being headquartered in Wales has helped the firm grow, research collaboration with Halliburton Energy Services, one of the largest service companies in We’re here for the duration. We have strong says Eddie Merrick. the oil and gas sector. We were involved in launch- local roots, and we’ve recently entered into a ing well-site services in the USA, Canada joint venture with another Welsh company that and the Middle East. has helped increase our service portfolio and reach. Further on, we hope to create a geoscience How easy is it to find experienced scientists centre of excellence based in Mid Wales – some- and graduate entrants? thing we hope will have a global influence. We have a number of qualified geologists who left the area to study elsewhere in the UK, but came back because they prefer the lifestyle here. We’ve been able to develop good relationships with academia. With Aberystwyth and Glyndŵr Universities nearby, we have an excellent pool of potential recruits. We have an ongoing project with Aberystwyth, which gives us access to its Innovation and Enterprise Campus to provide support for developing new services and tech- niques. We also have connections with Bangor and Cardiff Universities.

Has working with the Welsh Government been a straightforward process? Their support has been a crucial part of Chemostrat’s success and our continued development. They have provided help with growth and innovation, as well as useful links through their business network opportunities. The key to this success has been our relationship with our Welsh Government account manager, who helps us to access the right support and information within the Government and in the wider business community. Hot stuff: Far left, pouring out molten rock. Above, pipetting a sample for analysis

72 THIS IS WALES 73 OPINION

e’ve always taken pride in being multiple prizes (it was European Whisky of the innovators. When Penderyn Year 2018) and was given a very high rating by started in 1999, it was the first Jim Murray, one of the world’s most renowned A spirit whisky distillery in Wales for whisky writers. In a business like this, there has more than 100 years. There was to be substance to what you do. Wa conscious decision to try to create a distinctive More and more distilleries are springing up Welsh style of whisky. The founders didn’t have in Wales. Around 25 spirits licences have been much industry knowledge at the time – that granted throughout the country – not only for expertise came later – but they were passionate whisky, but vodka, gin and other products. The of creativity about Wales and wanted to produce the best Welsh Government has been very supportive of us product they could. and of the industry. We had valuable help when The way we distil and cask our whisky is we set up the visitor centre in 2008 and tripled From its base in the Brecon Beacons, Penderyn has unique. The Scotch whisky industry generally our production capacity in 2014, and they do a spearheaded the revival of the Welsh whisky industry. uses pot stills, which produce a spirit at 70% to lot to promote us around the world. 76% strength. At Penderyn, we use a specially We don’t try to emulate the Scotch whisky Laura Davies, who heads the distilling team, explains commissioned column still, and our spirit comes market. That has been there for a very long time, how business success has been driven by bold innovation off at 89% to 92% alcohol by volume. One of the and has an export value of around £5billion. But reasons you cask whisky is to remove impurities, increasing our production in Wales is good from and a willingness to experiment. but because our spirit is lighter, it doesn’t have as both a manufacturing and tourism point of view, many of those harsh notes in the first place. The and we’re currently planning new Penderyn cask doesn’t have to work so hard, so we can get a distilleries in Swansea and North Wales. quicker maturation, and we end up with a balanced We don’t have problems with recruitment. whisky that picks up just the right amount of wine If you’re in Scotland and you’re looking for a and wood flavours. new distiller or member of the technical team, When I first joined the company in 2012, you can find lots of people with specific skills our range of products was considerably smaller. and experience. We don’t have that in Wales, but Today, our range of expressions is growing. we do have a talented workforce that’s willing to This allows us to reach a wider audience, and to learn. We can train our people from the ground exercise a lot of creativity with our distillation, up; and in some ways that’s better, as they really mashing and maturation processes. Our Icons get behind our brand and our values. of Wales series – special releases that celebrate I certainly had no experience of whisky before a person, milestone or event from Welsh history I came here. We have an all-female technical – has proved very interesting from a marketing team at the distillery, including distilling and point of view, and it has certainly helped us tap blending, purely because those individuals were into both the whisky market and the loyal Welsh the best people for the jobs. We are recognised for expat community. the jobs we do rather than for our gender, but I’m It’s not just a matter of marketing. Our Bryn very keen to use our example to encourage women Terfel whisky came in beautiful velvet packaging, to come into the industry and become part of it. and I’m sure this will have led some people to I think it bodes well for the future of Wales as a wonder whether what’s inside the bottle matched whisky-producing nation. the outside. But that expression of Penderyn won The way we distil and cask our whisky is unique

Still life: Where the whisky is born

74 THIS IS WALES 75 FEATURE

A new wave of adventure

After pioneering the UK’s only inland wave lagoon, where confident surfers can test their mettle on artificial breakers up to six feet tall, Adventure Parc Snowdonia has ambitious plans to turn into a year-round attraction — complete with a new four-star hotel.

76 THIS IS WALES 77 ADVENTURE PARC s the gull flies, it’s about seven miles Adventure Parc Snowdonia occupies what was to RWE Energy’s plant, where it drives generator SNOWDONIA from Dolgarrog in the Conwy Valley previously a post-industrial blot on the landscape We’ve been able turbines, and in the past it was then discharged Location to the nearest part of the Welsh coast- – though in the heart of spectacular mountain into the River Conwy. “We now borrow that water Dolgarrog, North Wales line – so there’s something weirdly scenery. Until 2007, aluminium had been smelted to get access to for a while”, says Andy. Founded wonderful in the fact that it’s where at the site for more than a century. Its transfor- Keen to make good use of all that pure Welsh 2012 Employees ABritain’s most reliable surf break is to be found. mation was made possible by local entrepreneur the right people, rain, the Ainscoughs looked into developing the 45 At Adventure Parc Snowdonia – formerly Surf Martin Ainscough, who bought the land without site as a watersports facility. They soon discov- Snowdonia – a giant lagoon offers artificial waves having any settled plan for its future. and quickly ered the artificial wave technology pioneered to suit the skills of every board rider. Beginners Andy Ainscough, his son, is now managing by Wavegarden, based in the Spanish Basque can find their balance on white water waves. For director of Adventure Parc Snowdonia. He says: Peak flow: Country, and the rest is history. advanced surfers, the Wavegarden technology “The economy was in crisis at the time of purchase, The vital water supply Visitor numbers have exceeded the estimate easily whisks up head-high breakers that present so the time wasn’t right to do anything with it. from Dolgarrog mountain laid down in their initial business plan. Andy more of a challenge. By the time we did begin to think about a future says: “In our first full season, in 2016, we expected When the centre opened in 2015, it provided for Dolgarrog, all sorts of options were on the 70,000 surfers to come to Dolgarrog. We actually the world’s longest manmade surfable wave, table. And at the time, I happened to be working had 150,000 visitors.” prompting one national newspaper to ask: “Is summers as an outdoor instructor in Wales and He believes this success has a lot to do with inland Wales the best surf spot on the planet?” the Lake District.” the support the new venture received from both Since then, it has played a part in establishing What the site did have was lots of good quality local and national government. “Both Conwy North Wales as a prime destination for innovative water: its near-neighbour is a hydroelectric power Borough and the Welsh Government were very adventure travel. station. Water from hills to the west flows down proactive,” he says. “We were able to get access to the right people, and explain to them what we wanted to achieve, far quicker than we could have done in other parts of the UK. People were very understanding and open.” At first, recruiting staff to “wet” roles such as lifeguards and surf instructors meant looking far afield. In the first year, 70% of these staff were from outside Wales. That situation has now been reversed, with 80% drawn from the local area. Across all roles, local people now make up 95% of the workforce. Andy and the team are now well into the next chapter of the centre’s story. The rebranding of Surf Snowdonia to Adventure Parc Snowdonia reflects how phase two will see a wider range of nature-inspired experiences offered at Dolgarrog. A new indoor activity zone, Adrenaline Indoors, has been launched in summer 2019. There will also be a zip wire that will fly users over the surf lagoon, plus further outdoor activities on and off the site. With the help of a major investment, the company will be able to extend its on-site accom- modation beyond the current wooden “glamping pods”. In 2020, a new four-star, 106-bed hotel will meet the needs of visitors seeking more luxury. The ultimate hope is that a season that starts in March and ends in November can be extended. “Our phase-two developments will help with our all-year-round offer, which is key for us,” says Andy. “At the moment we have about 20 staff members who stay with us all year, but we’d love to retain more.”

Getting the community on board: Adventure Parc Snowdonia’s Andy Ainscough

78 THIS IS WALES 79 It’s not all work, work, work. We’ve created The Wales Way – three national routes to help you explore our greatest scenery. The Coastal Way, The North Wales Way and The Cambrian Way will lead you along the coast, across castle country, and through our mountainous heartland. At every turn, we’ve suggested detours so you can tailor-make your own epic journey. thewalesway.com

80 THIS IS WALES 81 FIRST PERSON

Anybody can fly — FRONTGRID Location Conwy, North Wales Founded and it’s as close to the 2013 Frontgrid is the second business that I’ve High flyers: Employees set up in North Wales. When I left the military, Matt Wells, left, and David Wood 147 real thing as possible I became a mountaineering instructor and expe- dition leader, before attending Bangor University to do a business degree. That first start-up was an expedition company, which took young people on expeditions around the world. A lot of the people who live in my part of Wales have chosen to be here because they enjoy the natural environment. Like me, they’re here for the mountains and the sea. There are a lot of people around who are at a later stage in their career and who have extremely good skills. They’re looking for exciting opportunities, which is great for innovative companies such as ours. Matt Wells co-founded Frontgrid to develop and bring Our head office is within walking distance to market cutting-edge adventure experiences. Its first of home for me. We also have a satellite office in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and an engineering partner, product, ParadropVR, draws on his expertise as an Simworx, at Kingswinford in the West Midlands. Army airborne engineer and parachutist to let anyone So we’re based in Wales, we’re innovating and manufacturing in the UK, and we’re shipping experience the excitement of paragliding. globally. Looking to the future, it’s our ambition to be recognised globally as a leader in the field of innovative, world-first adventure attractions.

For me, what’s so great about virtual reality is be as close to the real thing as it could possibly Up and away: that it allows you to take people to places they be. Frontgrid’s executive chairman David Wood ParadropVR in action would otherwise only dream about. Paragliding and I have a military background. We’ve both is one experience that most people can’t access served with the airborne forces and are both in the real world, but we can provide it with our parachutists, so we’ve been able to draw on our ParadropVR product. own experience to make sure the product feels We could see there was a gap in the adven- just right. Our product development has been ture experience market for this. What happens is focused on making sure that the sensation that that the user sits in a fabric harness and then puts you experience as you fly is authentic. on the VR headset. The machine is started up, We founded the business in 2015 and sold and they’re taken up to 3,000ft in ParadropVR’s our first product in September 2017. Currently, virtual world. They’re then released, taking 90% of our revenue comes from overseas. control of their journey using toggles in each Thanks to an overseas business development hand to soar around a mountain environment. grant from the Welsh Government, which subsi- Anybody can fly, whether they’re seven or dises exhibitions abroad, we were able to take 107. And we’ve also “gamified” the experience: ParadropVR to the International Association there’s a set of rings that you fly through, each of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo in earning you points that add up to a final score. Orlando last November. I doubt we could have There’s an international leader board, provided done this without the assistance. Attending these via the ParadropVR mobile app, so every player events is vital for us to build our brand and our can potentially become world champion. reputation: we needed to be there to be part of From the start, we wanted ParadropVR to the game.

82 THIS IS WALES 83 WALES IS...

Winning the race to zero waste

Could Wales consign waste to history by the middle of the century? It’s an ambitious goal, but one we’ve taken to heart. From eliminating single-use plastic to fitting out workplaces with recycled timber, businesses are finding more and better ways to eliminate refuse — and the people and government of Wales are right behind them.

ILLUSTRATION: JED DE PYPER

84 THIS IS WALES 85 FOCUS:STRAND FILMTITLE & TV

A healthy picture

The past year has been the busiest yet for Wales’ buoyant film and TV industry, with the completion of a string of high-profile productions — including His Dark Materials, the latest flagship drama for Cardiff-based independent producers Bad Wolf.

86 THIS IS WALES 87 FOCUS:STRAND FILMTITLE & TV t may share its name with an evil corpora- tion in Doctor Who, but Bad Wolf has only been good for Wales’ burgeoning TV and film industry. It’s the biggest independent player in a sector that has seen exceptional Igrowth, increasing by 334% between 2006 and 2016 in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA). For an idea of the breadth of home-grown talent, it’s worth looking to Screen Alliance Wales. The industry body’s key partners and

BAD WOLF supporters include studio complexes (Dragon International Studios), set constructors (4wood Wales has its Location TV & film), camera and lighting providers (Movi- Cardiff, South Wales Founded etech and Panalux) and even specialist caterers own ecosystem 2015 (Scene Cuisine) – not to mention the University Employees of South Wales and Bad Wolf itself. of talent, crew 30 In real life, as on screen, the Bad Wolf story begins with Doctor Who. After working on the and locations 2005 revival of the science-fiction series, BBC executive Jane Tranter and producer Julie Gardner opted to make the BBC Worldwide co-production Da Vinci’s Demons in Swansea. In 2015, the two decided to start a new production company headquartered in Cardiff. Their belief that Wales had the locations, crew Dream factory: and supply chain to cope with the biggest and Previous page, below and right, most prestigious productions has been proven the Wolf Studios Wales complex right – not least by their flagship production of 2018, an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials novels for BBC One and the American HBO network. “It has contained every challenge a produc- Financial incentives helped to cement crew for these new jobs and build up Wales’ tion could face,” says executive producer Dan the deal. “We received a repayable commercial infrastructure. “We like to think we begin McCulloch, “from child filming hours, huge loan from the Welsh Government,” says Hale. training at nine years old where we invite local set construction and complicated stunts to “Jane and Julie had an amazing track record children in for tours of the studio,” says Hale. cutting-edge FX and remote filming locations. and could have set the company up almost “On His Dark Materials season one, more than But Jane and Julie had met these challenges anywhere, but they wanted something that 2,500 children came through the doors. They before in Wales, and it felt right to bring the anchored them here.” can see what’s being made here, have a go at show to Cardiff.” While being in Wales meant everything filming, and meet inspirational people. Then Much of the filming took place at Wolf Studios to Bad Wolf’s founders, it also means a great we have workshops, work experience, and paid Wales, their newly opened studio complex in deal for Wales to have them here – 30 full-time training programmes.” Cardiff Bay. “It’s a one stop shop for pre-pro- jobs is just the beginning. Hale says: “This year There’s a strong emphasis, too, on equality. duction, production and post-production,” says we’ll make three productions, all worth many “We have a very strict policy in terms of equal McCulloch. “Wales has its own ecosystem in terms millions of pounds. By headquartering here, Bad opportunities and diversity,” she says. “The of talent, crew and locations. Urban streets and Wolf is developing a long-standing, significant foremost thing is to advertise widely every dramatic countryside, coupled with excellent industry that will be based in Wales for many single opportunity that we have, to get away infrastructure and construction teams, means years to come. When most companies go into from industry nepotism.” you have all the right resources.” the regions to make a production, they finish And while creating a sustainable television Chief operating officer Natasha Hale says: up and leave nothing behind. Bad Wolf is here industry, the company is determined to preserve “Bad Wolf is the only high-end television drama 365 days a year. the country’s natural resources. “The environ- production company based out in the regions. “Our turnover on productions will be over ment is at the heart of what we do,” says Hale. Having filmed all over the world for BBC £80million this year, and on average more than “We run on 100% renewable electricity. Our sets Worldwide, including South Africa, Canada, 60% of that will go into local supply chains. We get recycled, we have environment runners to London and Los Angeles, the founders felt use local construction companies to build our make sure we’re not using too much fuel, and their best experiences in being able to find the sets, and we use local scaffolding companies, sustainability is monitored on every production.” right people was in Wales. You can never ask electricians, drivers and security firms.” too much – supply companies here are always Bad Wolf was instrumental in setting up willing to go the extra mile.” Screen Alliance Wales to train production

88 THIS IS WALES 89 FOCUS: FILM & TV we offer a good-value proposition with easy transport links, plus a variety of locations that make optimum use of the beautiful landscape. I think His Dark Materials will really put Wales on the map when it’s screened this year. It’s a truly Welsh production, with sets built in Cardiff and Wales is a real hub locations around South Wales. Aside from that, one of the most challenging sets we’ve recently 4WOOD TV & FILM worked on was for A Discovery of Witches. We had Location to recreate a period-building library with a huge Cardiff, South Wales of opportunities Founded stained-glass window and moulds to create the 2005 idea of thousands of stacked books. We also Employees constructed a challenging set for the Channel 4 4 series Traitors. We used a car park in Cardiff Bay to sculpt two part-ruined 1940s houses, recreating the aftermath of a bomb strike. We are now looking to expand the company. We’re investing in new technology and machin- ery, and training new contractors – all to keep the momentum growing within the creative industries. We’re always talking about the next project. That reflects the growing confidence in the creative industries in Wales. From Doctor Who to His Dark Materials, the biggest Welsh productions rely on spectacular sets to immerse

viewers in their imaginative world. Many of them are built Creating illusions: Craftspeople turning the by 4Wood TV & Film, as director Scott Fisher explains. set designs into reality

We started as an exhibitions company, but when We have around 100 subcontractors on production of Doctor Who came to Wales, we our books, including a core team of around 30 started to move the business more towards skilled, creative craftspeople. They range from building sets for TV and film. At that time, the the scenic carpenters who make the sets to infrastructure in Wales for the creative industries creative welders who look after the finish, and was limited, but the sector has really grown over most work on a self-employed basis. Together, the past 14 years, with an increasing number of it’s our job to take the vision of the production high-profile productions shooting here. designer and turn it into reality. It has to look We worked on eight productions in 2018 – believable on screen. Set for success: twice the number of the previous year – including We work closely with local colleges, such as 4Wood director A Discovery of Witches for Sky and Keeping Faith for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Scott Fisher BBC Cymru Wales. There are 12 productions on We bring new talent into the industry, first the board for 2019, notably the TV adaptation through work experience and then paid work of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials novels, placements. I think it’s important for Wales for which we’re working closely with Wolf to train up a new skill base and then have the Studios Wales. continuity to keep work in the region. For us We used to have to go to Bristol or London to as a company, it means 95% of our work and find work, but there’s now a real hub of oppor- suppliers are now based within Wales. tunities in Wales. This gave us the confidence to Working collaboratively with the Welsh establish a permanent base here, first in Barry Government has been essential. Without its and now in Cardiff. The Wales brand has become support, there would be no work. It plays a crucial far better known overseas. We’re established as role in enticing production companies to Wales, a place to produce international-scale produc- and makes them aware that the infrastructure tions such as Sherlock for the BBC and the new needed for a major production is all available Netflix productionSex Education. here. It successfully conveys the message that

90 THIS IS WALES 91 What are the latest developments at How are you making sure you have the skills Q&A Dragon Studios? base to cope with these big productions? I’m part of the team that acquired Dragon Studios One of our main goals is to educate the next Where in early 2019. We finalised the deal and immedi- generation. We’re collaborating with Screen Alli- DRAGON STUDIOS ately started work with the people at NBCUniversal. ance Wales and other industry organisations, and Location They’ll be basing themselves in Wales for the rest we’ll be linking with colleges in the region to set Bridgend, South Wales of this year to shoot their next series – an adapta- up work experience and other schemes to allow Founded 2007 tion of Brave New World, the Aldous Huxley novel. talented young people to learn on the job. I think imagination Employees that’s among the most important things we can do Looking beyond that, we’re planning to create a 8 as an industry. media hub at Dragon Studios, and we’ve already

had several enquiries from businesses wanting to What would you say to other businesses in the be part of it. We’re talking to lighting companies, creative industries that are considering Wales? takes flight post-production facilities, special effects people and location kit supply companies. There’s a broad In the last few years, the talent pool in Wales has range of businesses keen to have a presence here grown. There’s are plenty of skilled people work- and work with us. ing not just in our part of the industry, but in other With four large stages and a vast backlot area, Dragon Studios sectors alongside us – such as the carpenters can accommodate the biggest film productions— ­ and it’s Why are so many film companies choosing to who build sets for our productions. Where we’re TOM GUY come to Wales? positioned in Wales, we also have easy access within easy reach of Wales’ most spectacular filming locations. to cities with a wealth of knowledge and skill. At Operations manager From my own background as a film and TV location the moment, Cardiff is one of the most advanced Dragon Studios Tom Guy shares his ambitious plans for the studios’ future. manager, I can say – hand on heart – Wales is one places in the UK for creative technology, and that’s of the best places you can come for stunning film feeding into the post-production capabilities that locations. There are just so many fantastic places we have available to us in Wales. in Wales that we can access relatively quickly.

If you’re shooting in London and you drive for What does the future hold for Dragon Studios? two hours, you haven’t really got out of London. It’s all positive. We’re seeing a lot of demand, a lot But two hours from Dragon Studios can take of calls and emails, from production companies you to Mid Wales, Bristol, the coast of the Gower that would like to be based here. That’s something Peninsula or the Brecon Beacons. You have all we knew would happen because we know what these different types of scene, from cityscapes Wales has to offer. We have great studio facilities, to landscapes to epic wilderness – or forests, some of the best locations in the country and an beaches, caves – all within reach. They’re all easily incredible workforce. It’s no wonder the industry accessible from where we are. is thriving here.

Has the Welsh Government been able to help you attract business? Yes. We liaise very closely with the Welsh Govern- ment when film productions want to be based here. The film company will quite often contact the Welsh Government directly. They, in turn, will get in touch with us, and we can think about putting a package together to explain how we could work with them.

Hand on heart — Wales is one of the best places you can Prime location: come for stunning The Dragon Studios film locations complex near Bridgend

92 THIS IS WALES 93 MILESTONES OF WELSHOF INNOVATION SEVEN SYMBOLS In Wales, innovation is nothing new. And while it’s a tall order to pick a handful of items to represent Welsh ingenuity, enterprise and invention through the centuries, each of these seven has a compelling story to tell about our nation. 01. Raspberry Pi 04. 05. Invented by Pontypool-born Eben Upton, the inexpensive, credit-card-sized Cambriae Typus The Felinfoel beer can Raspberry Pi is the best-selling British-designed computer of all time. Intended to introduce young people to programming, it has also proved a hit with adults. The first printed map of Wales was produced in Beer in a tin can? Commonplace today, but 1573 by Humphrey Llwyd, an eccentric scholar, unknown to Britain back in 1935. It was first The Pi was originally manufactured in China. But in 2012, Upton moved collector and politician from Denbigh. Although manufactured that year at the Felinfoel Brewery production to the Sony UK Technology Centre at Pencoed, near Bridgend, the nation had been seen on earlier maps, his in Llanelli, whose owners were tin magnates as to take advantage of its “unparalleled manufacturing standards”. More than Cambriae Typus was the first to show it as a nation well as brewers. They came up with the idea of 10 million units have since emerged from the production line, making the Pi distinct from the rest of Britain. Its place names are coating the inside of a can with an inert wax to third only to the Apple Mac and the mighty PC in worldwide popularity. recorded in Welsh, English and Latin, and it was stop the beer inside getting a metallic tang. relied upon by travellers well into the 18th century. It proved a hit with drinkers, and didn’t do any Today, it provides an invaluable record of harm to South Wales’ domination of the tin Renaissance Wales, though it would be ill-advised industry. In 1945, the region still had more than to use the map as a sat-nav replacement – particu- 300 tinplate mills in operation. larly in South Wales. Its many errors include the complete absence of the Gower Peninsula.

03. 06. 07. The Coal Exchange tide clocks A cnapan ball The fuel cell Cardiff once ranked among the world’s most Rugby union has been a symbol of Welsh identity When humankind went to the Moon in 1969, a important ports, and the Coal Exchange was its for more than a century. But if you think that’s a piece of Welsh ingenuity blasted off with the three 02. beating heart. A local legend holds that the first physical game, try cnapan. First recorded in the NASA astronauts. The electric power and drinking million-pound cheque was signed here. Whatever ninth-century History of the Britons by the Welsh water in the Apollo spacecraft were produced by The Red Book of Hergest the truth, deals made on the market floor affected monk Nennius, it involved the entire male popula- fuel cells, which combine hydrogen and oxygen in Wales is a nation of storytellers. Long before Dylan Thomas or Roald Dahl supply chains that stretched across the world. tion of two villages fighting to steal a hard wooden a controlled electrochemical reaction. were practising their craft, audiences were being held spellbound by the ball and carry it home. The entrance hall featured two intricately carved It’s a process that was first described in 1838 by the folk tales of the Mabinogion. They’re collected in the Red Book of Hergest, clocks, supported by wooden lions. These were Though violent and chaotic, cnapan is widely Welsh physicist and barrister William Grove, who arguably the most important medieval manuscript in the Welsh language. set to the port’s high-water times in the morning considered to be a direct ancestor of modern rugby. managed to create a working prototype just three Its stories introduce a rich cast of characters: the heroic prince Pwyll and and the afternoon: essential information for the Some researchers even think it contained primitive years later. Fast-forward 180 years, and the same the enchanted horsewoman Rhiannon; Blodeuwedd, the flower maiden traders and shipowners, whose cargo movements versions of the scrum and line-out, but one practice technology is at the heart of the Riversimple Rasa, transformed into an owl; and even King Arthur and his warriors. By the time depended on the tides. Now that the Coal has fallen out of use in the modern game: cnapan a lightweight fuel-cell car now under development a scribe had copied out the tales in the late 14th century, they would already Exchange is a luxury hotel, the clocks that flank balls were often left boiling in fat overnight to make in Abergavenny. have been centuries old, but their themes of valour, treachery, heartbreak the reception provide a talking point for guests them extra-slippery and difficult to handle. and loss are timeless. and a poignant reminder of the building’s past.

94 THIS IS WALES 95 FEATURE

The path to success

CellPath is a Welsh life-sciences business with a global footprint, supplying high-quality products and services for cancer diagnostics. A strong focus on research and development is helping to keep the company at the forefront of its field.

96 THIS IS WALES 97 FEATURE

CELLPATH Location Newtown, Mid Wales Founded 1990 Employees 100 s a company that provides products has received financial support from the Welsh and services to the cellular pathology Government, including funding to assist with We’re looking to sector, helping medics to diagnose R&D equipment. Being in Wales has delivered the and treat cancer, CellPath touches benefits of good transport links and high-speed make more and many thousands of lives each year. internet – plus, Peter Webber believes, the ability A“I know for a fact that my father was tested with to build a strong, loyal workforce. more revenue from our products,” says research and development “We have a strong family atmosphere and a director Dr Neil Haine. “That really hits home lot of loyalty, being a Welsh company in Wales,” new products how important CellPath is as a company. But we’re he says. “We’re well known for supporting the not resting on our laurels – we’re always striving local football team. We have many people who to make new products and keep ourselves ahead have worked here for a long time, and multiple of our competitors.” generations of the same family. At the same time, CellPath’s products are used in two areas: the strength of our brand and the quality of life histology and cytology. Histology involves looking here attract skilled people from all around the at cells that come from biopsies, including inves- world. We have people from Spain, Romania, tigations for prostate or breast cancer. Cytology Malta and Poland. We’re a global company with tests cells in suspension, such as from cervical a global workforce.” smears. CellPath produces all the consumables needed for diagnosis, from the chemicals needed to process laboratory samples to the slides that pathologists use to examine them. It’s also respon- sible for a cellular pathology archive (CellNass) that stores tissue samples for the NHS. Cancer diagnostics is a challenging, fast-mov- ing field, and CellPath aims for constant innova- CellPath is certainly thinking globally. It tion. “We want to develop the next generation of holds ISO 13485 certification for design of in products and services, providing better perfor- vitro diagnostic devices, and this is a big draw mance in cancer diagnosis and reduced turnaround for multinational companies seeking to use Cell- times,” says Dr Haine. “Out of our workforce Path’s expertise. Webber says: “We’ve also had of 100 people, five are full-time research and excellent support from the Welsh Government development. We’re looking to make more and in achieving export growth, such as assistance more of our revenue from new products.” with trade missions and attending exhibitions The company moved to Newtown from to promote our products. That’s been highly Hertfordshire in 1990, but 83-year-old chairman successful in helping us to increase our export Peter Webber’s association with Wales goes back sales. The cancer diagnostics market grows by much further. In 1940, he was evacuated here as a 8 to 10% per year, and we're growing the market five-year-old during the Second World War. “Mid all the time for our products and services.” Wales is God’s own country,” he says, “and we’re Webber has high hopes for CellPath’s future. very proud of our entrepreneurs: Laura Ashley, “All my life, I’ve always believed that there is Robert Owen, Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones. I always say a better way to do things. We’ve designed and there’s something in the water up here.” developed unique products and services, such There’s certainly something in the ecosystem. as CellNass, that put us above the rest. We’re CellPath is a member of the MediWales network, growing at a good rate, we’re well-financed, and exhibiting regularly at its events, and it enjoys good we have a very substantial base, with a turnover relationships with Welsh universities including of £10million and a healthy profit. The opportu- Aberystwyth and South Wales. The company nities are tremendous.”

Construction set: Peter Webber One of CellPath’s injection moulding machines Founder, Cellpath

98 THIS IS WALES 99 FIRST PERSON

We knew we could

CAPITAL LAW Location Cardiff, South Wales do things better Founded 2006 Employees 150

In their blueprint for Capital Law, Chris Nott and his two founding partners envisioned a firm that could compete with the big names in the City, support entrepreneurship in Wales and offer staff an enviable work–life balance. He explains why it’s a business model that works.

More than a decade ago, when I was working in the public sector and the third sector. We don’t here, and none of us had any intention of living Cardiff itself is predicted to be the fastest-grow- another law firm, a couple of my fellow partners get involved in areas such as personal injury, or working elsewhere. Wales is a great place to ing city in Europe over the next 20 years. We have and I realised we could do things differently. family law or crime. set up a business. We have access to finance, such extensive housing and Grade-A office development, We decided to create a commercial law firm The other element is harder to define, but we as from the Development Bank of Wales, which and a new transport network in the Metro project. that could compete with the big City-based and call it “Our Way”. We operate in a manner that allows is wholly owned by the Welsh Government and Our three universities produce tens of thousands international firms across Europe, but which our people to be grown-ups and take responsibility funds businesses with between £50,000 and of qualified students every year. People tend to would be proudly based in Wales. for their own lives. They have to ensure their legal £5million. We also have Business Wales, which think about Cardiff as being a modestly sized In doing that, we felt we could achieve two work is of the highest possible standard, but work can provide support and financial assistance city. But if you look at where you can get to in a things: a different working culture and a lower is just a part of their life rather than all of it. to very early-stage businesses. 40-minute drive, we’re talking about an area of 1.4 cost base. Because Wales is a great place to work This has helped us to recruit the bright A few years ago, the Welsh Government took million people with good communication links. and lots of people want to live here – particularly people we need. Most of them are aged between the decision to grow the economy in partnership That’s a big pull for firms looking to set up in Wales. those who already have Welsh connections – 30 and 40 and either have small children or are with the private sector, and put in place a range As for Capital Law, we’ve achieved what we our idea was that we could attract super-bright planning on starting a family, so work is only of panels to advise them. I’m now a member of set out to do 10 years ago, having grown around lawyers from the City to come and work with one factor in their decision to come to Cardiff. In the Ministerial Advisory Board, made up of 10 10% a year since then. Our plan for the next few us. We would then effectively sell them back to the main, we bring people in from London and people from the private sector who advise the years is further aggressive but organic growth. the City and around the UK and Europe. Bristol, although we have also recruited from Government on policy. As part of one initiative, To do that, we will need to continue to attract When we set up Capital Law, a couple of other other firms in Wales. I asked chief executives from the financial services brilliant people who want to come here – and aspects set us apart from traditional law firms. We’re firmly rooted in Cardiff. The firm sector what the main advantages of basing a we can do it, because Wales is a great place to We only do commercial law, serving businesses, where the three of us used to work was based business in Wales were. Every one of them said live and work. Wales is at the very centre of our it was the people here who made a difference. business model.

100 THIS IS WALES 101 What exactly does the company do? Has business support been available to you in Wales? Q&A Around 70% of medical decisions are taken using in vitro diagnostics – the testing of blood and tissue The Welsh Government have been there when- samples – and we’re a global leader in this field. We ever we’ve needed them, engaging with us and ORTHO CLINICAL serve immunohaematology communities around offering an array of resources to support our DIAGNOSTICS Tried & the world, including hospitals, hospital networks, continued success. They can help with things on Location blood banks and clinical laboratories in nearly 130 your doorstep, and also with international trade Pencoed, South Wales countries. If a doctor asks you to give blood for a test, links. I really think the Welsh Government is a Founded 1980 it may well be one of our products that will test it. champion for innovation and industry in Wales. Employees PAUL HALES 450 Senior director How does Wales fit into your global strategy? What advice would you give life sciences Ortho Clinical Diagnostics companies thinking of locating in Wales? On site in Pencoed we’ve got about 450 people tested making immune assay and immunohaematology I would say that Wales hits the mark for business, products. We’ve had a presence in this area for whether you’re coming here at an early stage around 40 years. We started in Cardiff in 1980, and or you’re established. The same principles apply moved to a state-of-the-art facility at Pencoed in whatever stage your company has reached. Wales 2010. We how have a diverse mix of people, from has a skilled workforce across many disciplines. young graduates and apprentices through to staff Location is important, too. Our distribution links with over 30 years’ experience. are strong: we’re relatively close to all the major ports and airports. Allied to the supportive Ortho Clinical Diagnostics has been manufacturing complex Over the years, we’ve seen the life sciences government, it’s a recipe for success. community in Wales grow and grow, and we’re medical diagnostic equipment in South Wales for almost 40 years. proud to have been a large part of that. We believe Do you expect to be doing business in Wales Paul Hales explains why it's the perfect location for a successful that Wales is a vibrant place to do business. It’s got for another 40 years? life-sciences business. everything we need to serve our marketplace. Our reason to exist is to save and improve lives How is the company ensuring it can recruit through diagnostics. To that end, we’ll keep our the right talent for years to come? focus on serving our global customers in hospital labs and blood banks all around the world. Building Every company will say that people are its most on the excellent resources and support we have important asset, and we’re no different. We’re here in the heart of Wales will help us do that. equally delighted with the apprentices that we get from local colleges and the graduates that come out of the fantastic universities we’ve got Appliance of science: on our doorstep. Far left, a transfer conveyor at the Pencoed site. Left, The beauty of being in the sector for a long period the BioVue Filler Module of time is that we’re now able to attract the top talent from these universities. We’ve found the students we have hired to be first class in aptitude, attitude and potential. I’m sure that the thinking of these young people will help our company evolve and improve for many years to come.

Wales is a nation with a skilled workforce across many disciplines

102 THIS IS WALES 103 WALES IS... Capturing a global audience

From bestselling video games to tightly plotted television dramas, the output of Wales’ creative industries entertains the world. It’s among our fastest-growing sectors, and the word is spreading: last year, more film productions than ever before came to Wales, taking advantage of our spectacular locations, state-of-the-art facilities and talented workforce.

ILLUSTRATION: JED DE PYPER

104 THIS IS WALES 105 FOCUS: FINTECH

Innovation you can count on

Financial technology plays a vital role in Wales’ fast-growing digital economy. And thanks to a vibrant entrepreneur community, easy access to Government support and a pipeline of talent from Welsh universities, fintech is flourishing. Software from Delio heads up our special focus.

106 THIS IS WALES 107 FOCUS: FINTECH

DELIO “We developed a software platform which Finding staff in such a competitive sector is Location we license to financial institutions, and which not easy. Delio has a number of channels, includ- Cardiff, South Wales they can brand to their own organisation,” he ing a graduate rotation scheme for students from Founded explains. “It’s essentially a customisable client Cardiff University, and is currently looking to 2015 Employees experience, where wealth management clients develop links with local schools to make young 30 can log on and access a range of entrepreneurial people aware of the opportunities in the sector. investment opportunities.” Likewise, when it comes to attracting staff from Due to the specialist nature of Delio’s work further afield, there are advantages to being and the international growth in private markets, headquartered in Wales. its client base is global. Just three years on, the “I believe we’re unique in the opportunity we’re Cardiff-based business already has offices in offering and the type of exposure we can offer to London, Brussels and Sydney, and is eyeing people joining us,” says Lewis. “We’ve taken on further expansion in the Middle East. Lewis says: some fantastic people who are Welsh and wanted “We’re also looking at a big fundraise this year to come back to Wales for the lifestyle advantages. to move into the US market, and we’re expecting We can offer them not just a fast-paced role with he growth of Wales’ digital economy to double headcount in the next 18 months.” plenty of personal development opportunities, has been spectacular. According to Lewis expects the Welsh fintech sector to but also a good work–life balance.” a recent estimate, it’s worth around continue flourishing over the coming years. The firm has received support from Cardiff £8.2billion and employs more than “Cardiff is the closest capital city to London, Council and the Welsh Government’s Accelerated 44,000 people. Much of this success which is home to a thriving financial technology Growth Programme. It has also gained from being Tis down to the booming fintech (or financial tech- sector. It gives us the opportunity to have a large based at the Cardiff Business Technology Centre, nology) sector, which has seen Wales emerge as a in-house team here in Cardiff, with a number of a flexible office space aimed at developing knowl- go-to location for innovative start-ups. exciting opportunities on our doorstep.” edge-driven or technology-based small firms. It’s easy to see why. There’s a strong financial “We’re probably one of the larger businesses and professional-services sector in Wales. We here now, and we have our own private space,” have an entrepreneurial culture, sustained by Lewis says. “We’ve had to move offices three or talented graduates from our universities, and four times because we keep adding more people. a devolved Government that encourages and The Centre has always been very flexible, and it supports it. Early-stage companies can benefit has been one less thing for us to worry about. from incubator and co-working spaces, accelerator But now we’re up to 30 people, we’re looking at programmes and an active meet-up community laying foundations for an international HQ here that brings investors together with both start-ups in Cardiff.” and established companies. After three years of putting in place the The latter include such technology giants structure of the business, the watchword for the as BT, Hewlett Packard and Dell – all of which immediate future is growth – and Lewis thinks have built up a large presence in Wales – and the there’s an untapped market for Delio’s services. consumer brands MoneySuperMarket, Admiral, A wealth of opportunity: “There are more high-net-worth individuals Previous page, co-founder GoCompare and Confused.com. Up-and-coming Gareth Lewis. Above and allocating money to private assets, and more fintech companies include Wealthify, an online right, staff at the Cardiff office financial institutions are realising they need to investment service that uses smart algorithms do something in this space. We are continuing to democratise investing; Sonovate, a contract to evolve and develop on this basis.” finance provider for the recruitment industry; What’s more, diversification is never far from and Bipsync, which offers research management Lewis’s mind. “There’s lots we can do, not only software for investors. in this space but also in other markets,” he says. Swansea-based Vizolution (see p.112) and “We are a private asset infrastructure business, Cardiff'sAMPLYFI (see p.114) are two companies but where else can we look to build out offerings? that have carved a unique niche in the tech sector. We offer recruits That’s a question we’ll be looking to answer in And another example of a thriving fintech firm the next two to three years.” is Delio, which has developed a white label tech- a magnitude of nology platform that enables financial firms to connect their clients with highly curated private opportunity and investment opportunities. The business was co-founded in 2015 by Gareth Lewis, who chose a great quality to return to his native South Wales after starting his career in corporate finance. of life

108 THIS IS WALES 109 FOCUS: FINTECH Tech pioneer: Co-founder Bill Safran

Access to talent is VIZOLUTION Location Swansea, South Wales why we based ourselves Founded 2013 Employees 147 in Wales

Many consumers find it a chore to deal with banks and utility companies on the telephone or online. Bill Safran, CEO of Vizolution, explains how the software firm is helping these businesses provide a better customer experience.

I set up Vizolution with my colleague and co- customer, have them download information or taken over 12,000 square feet and turned it into the Development Bank of Wales has been very founder Huw Rees in 2013. He’s from Llanelli, and upload photos of their passport or driver’s licence, a Silicon Valley-inspired hi-tech hub, complete supportive. We’ve built links with Swansea that was one of the drivers to set it up in Wales. or sign agreements with them there and then. with all the necessary accoutrements such as University, taking on talented individuals with We’re a customer experience company, and Since 2013, we’ve grown from two people ping-pong and foosball tables. It really creates computer science skills. At the moment we’re just our aim is to streamline complex customer jour- to 147. We now have 20,000 call centre agents a dynamic environment for our employees. employing graduates, but we’d be open to taking neys. When clients interact with banks or telecom around the world using our software, who deliv- Being able to attract and retain talent was on undergraduates who could work part-time companies, they’re often asked to go on these ered approximately two million sessions with one of the reasons we based ourselves in Wales. and get work experience. convoluted, fractured journeys, based on what’s customers in 2018. Our biggest customers are In London, you may be able to hire staff immedi- There are plenty of other great fintech compa- good for the business. We flip that on its head and RBS, Santander and HSBC, and we’ve also got ately, but you lose staff quickly too: there are so nies in Wales, but we don’t have any direct compet- put the customer at the centre of everything. some big telcos such as O2 and EE. We’ve even many competing employers. In Wales it may take itors. We’re expanding rapidly into Europe, and We achieve this by providing technology had investments from RBS, Santander and HSBC, longer to find the right person, but the quality of also into North America. We have small sales that replicates a face-to-face experience over so they’re now shareholders as well as customers. the talent pool is very high. A lot of our employees offices in Boston and in Toronto, but the technol- a remote channel. Anything that can be done We originally set up in the Technium in Neath have been with us for years. ogy and support operations are being run out of in person can now be done remotely. So, a call Port Talbot, but soon outgrew that. We’re now The business environment is attractive Port Talbot – and the core of our operations will centre can talk through a sales process with a at Bay Studios, on the way in to Swansea. We’ve here, too. We’ve had good support through R&D remain in Wales. programmes from the Welsh Government, and

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INSIGHT Websites presented by most mainstream search engines represent only a fraction of what’s freely available online. With its DataVoyant platform, Cardiff-basedAMPLYFI lets businesses harvest vital information hidden in the deepest levels of the web.

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1 CEO Chris Ganje 2 Canine employee Milo 3 A team meeting at the Tramshed AMPLYFI Location Cardiff, South Wales Founded 2015 Employees 31

1 2 hile working for BP, Chris Ganje Lloyds Bank. In 2017, AMPLYFI partnered with and his future business partner Harvard University to deliver groundbreaking Ian Jones had a eureka moment. research into bioterror capabilities in North Korea. Mining the internet for business Ganje says: “DataVoyant located, harvested and intelligence is nothing new. But analysed over 840,000 documents relevant to Wcould organisations improve their decision-making biological weapons research. Using the resulting even further – and spot potential disruptions on analysis, we were able to uncover the connections the horizon – if they could analyse online data between certain assets known to be owned by that normally remains hidden? North Korea and very particular terms associated The duo set up AMPLYFI in 2015, having with bioweapons capability, either directly or started working on what would become their indirectly. DataVoyant identified a significant flagship product DataVoyant the previous year. increase in the strength of these connections It’s a software platform that harvests informa- in recent years.” tion from both the surface web – the pages that Ganje and his co-founders took the decision are returned by search engines such as Google to base their business in Cardiff after assessing – and the deep web, the parts that options all over the globe. AMPLYFI consumer search engines choose continues to operate out of the not to present. Tramshed Tech collaborative DataVoyant uses artificial intel- We did a global workspace near Cardiff Central 3 ligence, machine learning and big railway station. Ganje says: “We data visualisation to create insights, assessment of knew that we were on to something allowing users to identify and react cities, and Cardiff really big, and that we needed to to trends and disruption. base ourselves where we would Ganje says: “DataVoyant allows came out on top have access to top talent and could a user to enter a simple query to thrive as a start-up. We conducted discover and analyse millions of an assessment of different regions open source, freely available documents that exist and cities around the world. Cardiff came out on on the surface and deep web. Using intelligent top, matched only by Boston. algorithms, DataVoyant develops a picture of a “Cardiff turned out to be the right decision, topic that allows you to discover what is happening, because we have more access to talent here than where it’s happening, who is driving activity and we would have anywhere else in the world. People whether that activity is accelerating or decelerat- come from other countries and enjoy the quality ing. The original documents are attached to this of life in South Wales, including the countryside analysis, providing full auditability of the results.” and the city’s vibrant cultural life.” Potential users include financial-services AMPLYFI is planning to widen its portfolio businesses who are seeking to understand their with a number of product launches. “One is a exposure to bad debt, or to develop insights on world-first surface and deep-web search engine,” new markets so they can assess whether or not says Ganje. “That will be coming out this spring. to back a business. But above all, we’re looking to commercialise DataVoyant has already found favour with technology that was only theoretically possible private companies and government depart- until recently. Our vision is to be the global leader ments alike. Clients include Airbus, Bayer, BNP in business intelligence and research, and we are Paribas, BP, the Singaporean Government and well on our way to achieving this.”

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Changing lives

Therapies developed by biotech giant Ipsen are licensed in more than 115 countries worldwide. Wrexham is home to the company’s Biologics Centre of Excellence, which houses state-of-the- art manufacturing and development facilities.

116 THIS IS WALES 117 FEATURE Research and development: Pipetting samples in the Wrexham laboratory

IPSEN rom its laboratories on the eastern fringe of Wrexham, biotech firm Ipsen Location Wrexham, North Wales is making life better for people across Founded the globe. Research, design, produc- 1994 tion and shipping are all based at the Employees Fsite, which has been boosting the local economy 400 and Wales’s burgeoning life sciences industry since 1994. “Over recent years, we’ve been growing at a significant pace,” says Nick Davis, VP for manu- facturing, ”and the neuroscience therapeutic products we make here have been growing in the marketplace as well. As a result, we’ve needed to invest heavily in the Wrexham site.” Innovation for life: It’s an ongoing process. Following £100million Staff engaged in sample analysis in investment over recent years, Ipsen is engaged in a further development project, dedicating £22million to this key strategic location. Davis says: “We’re very proud to be part of the business community here. North Wales has good transportation links, close proximity to academic centres, access to high- We’ve needed to skilled talent here and in north-west England. It also has top hospitals and patient advocacy groups invest heavily in – all important to us as a pharmaceutical company. “As one of the largest employers in North Wales, our Welsh site we have strong links with the Welsh Government, directly and through the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry in Cardiff. The Welsh Government supports innovation, and for north-west of England. “We also work with Wrex- a business like ours that strives to be innovative, ham’s education institutes to source apprentices,” it works very well.” adds Davis. “And we’re sponsoring PhD students in Wrexham’s growing reputation in the life- a number of universities, in the hope that it brings sciences sector helps to attract the skilled phar- talent to us in the future.” maceutical and support workers that Ipsen relies A deep well of talent will be vital for North upon. “In the last two years, we’ve increased our Wales’s rapidly expanding life sciences sector, head count by as many as 120,” says Davis. “A which currently has a turnover of £2billion and large population of employees come from within a employs 11,000 people in over 350 companies. 15-mile radius, though some of our higher-skilled, “We’re very happy to see the growth of other scientific folk come in from slightly further afield. innovative businesses here,” says Davis. “They We’ve done a lot to raise our profile in the area can be a catalyst for further innovation, working and across the UK. As a result, people are coming in collaboration. What’s happening across the to us, rather than our having to reach out.” pond in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a great Ipsen’s commitment to the region is underlined example of how multiple companies can live by its efforts with local education institutions to close to each other and benefit as a result.” develop a workforce for the future. “We’re very As for Ipsen, it’s going nowhere – in the best active in the Welsh arm of the UK STEM program, possible way. “Our investment demonstrates a and a number of our employees are STEM ambas- huge commitment to what Wrexham has to offer,” sadors,” says Davis. “They visit secondary schools, says Davis. “We have exciting growth ahead as a and pupils are invited on site to learn more. We’re business, both in current production, and also in trying to engage with potential future employees a pipeline of innovative neuroscience therapeutic at a very early stage in their education.” products that we’re developing through this facility. As well as its links with Welsh institutions – The intention is to continue to expand this site, including a tie-in with Cardiff University to accredit continue to invest, and bring those new products courses delivered at Ipsen’s on-site training academy through the Wrexham facility to the patients who – the company has strong links with colleges in the need them.”

118 THIS IS WALES 119 What next? Find out what Wales can do for your business: We can get things moving in Wales as soon as you get in touch. Tel: +44 (0) 3000 603000 Straight away, we’ll team you up with a dedicated business Web: tradeandinvest.wales development professional. They’ll quickly get to know you, Facebook: facebook.com/InvestWales talk through your business needs and support requirements, Instagram: @InvestWales and become your “person on the ground” while you weigh up Twitter: @InvestWales your options. They’ll connect you with decision-makers and respond quickly on support options.

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