Agenda item

Iain Taylor (Investment Zone Programme Manager) to present report.

Appendices 1-3 are exempt, for the attention of Committee Members only, in accordance with Paragraph 14 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972: Information relating to the financial business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

1.     To note progress on establishing and implementing the Investment Zone Innovation programme in close partnership with Wrexham University, AMRC, Bangor University and Net Zero Industry Wales.

2.     To note the process for developing the projects contained in this report and that they have been agreed as suitable Innovation projects for the Investment Zone to support by the North Wales Innovation Board.

3.     To approve the project proposal submitted by Wrexham University to a value of £3,645,364 and delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer, the Chair and Vice Chair to agree and enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee and Wrexham University.  

4.     To approve the project proposal submitted by Bangor University to a value of £1,300,000 and delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer, the Chair and Vice Chair to agree and enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee and Bangor University which specifically reflects an agreement to implement any recommendations arising from the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee Project Review of the Growth Deal Digital Signal Processing Centre (DSP) Project.  

5.     To approve the project proposal submitted by Net Zero Industry Wales £260,000 and delegate authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer, Chair and Vice-chair to agree and enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee and Net Zero Industry Wales on behalf of the local Industrial Decarbonisation Partnership (including CHANGE and the Deeside Decarbonisation Forum).

The report was presented by the Investment Zone Programme Manager

DECISION

1.     To note progress on establishing and implementing the Investment Zone Innovation programme in close partnership with Wrexham University, AMRC, Bangor University and Net Zero Industry Wales.

2.     To note the process for developing the projects contained in this report and that they have been agreed as suitable innovation projects for the Investment Zone to be supported by the North Wales
Innovation Board.

3.     To approve the project proposal submitted by Wrexham University to a value of £3,645,364 and delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer, the Chair and Vice-chair to agree and enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee and Wrexham University.  

4.     To approve the project proposal submitted by Bangor University to a value of £1,300,000 and delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer, the Chair and Vice-chair to agree and enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee and Bangor University which specifically reflects an agreement to implement any recommendations arising from the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee Project Review of the Growth Deal Digital Signal Processing Centre (DSP) Project.  

5.     To approve the project proposal submitted by Net Zero Industry Wales to a value of £260,000 and delegate authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer, Chair and Vice-chair to agree and enter into a Grant Funding Agreement between the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee and Net Zero Industry Wales on behalf of the local Industrial Decarbonisation Partnership (including NEWID and the Deeside Decarbonisation Forum).

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

To seek the Economic Well-being Sub-committee’s approval for the first three projects within the Flintshire and Wrexham Zone Innovation Programme. These projects were aligned with the emerging Investment Zone supported innovation projects currently underway with AMRC and BIC Innovation to create an Investment Zone Innovation Programme and explore the feasibility of a National Manufacturing Institute for Wales in North East Wales.

DISCUSSION

It was explained that three projects had been developed in collaboration with Flintshire County Council, Wrexham County Borough Council and projects to connect commercial companies with research and innovation sources to help them identify their challenges, expand connections and encourage innovative growth of their companies.

It was confirmed that these projects included the Wrexham University project, which had been under the auspices of the Regional Skills Partnership and the North Wales Innovation Board. It was explained that it was an innovative project to enable the university to provide support and research to companies, without accruing costs.

Reference was made to a project by Bangor University that encouraged companies to address their data and connectivity challenges. It was noted that this project would lead on the best approaches to improving connectivity across the region. It was explained that this project allowed companies the time to hold meetings with the university in order to understand any current problems and work together in the future to resolve them.

It was reported that the third project was the Net Zero Industry Wales project, which supported businesses with procedures to achieve carbon emission reductions and plans to become net zero carbon.

It was confirmed that detailed information about the projects was available within the report, with applications and further information to be found in the appendices. It was emphasised that those appendices were exempt for the attention of the Members only because they contained commercially sensitive information.

The members expressed their thanks for the report.