Mid Wales Business and Innovation Exchange

Penglais Campus, University of Aberystwyth

Author PkWicipics Licence CC BY-SA 3.0  Source Wikipedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

Mid-Wales Business & Innovation Exchange is described as "a dedicated business engagement event, bringing together regional organisations to connect, collaborate and explore the key challenges shaping business in 2026 and beyond."  It will take place in the Arts Centre on the Penglais campus of  Aberystwyth University on 22 April 2026 between 09:30 and 15:00.   Anyone wishing to attend the event should register with Eventbrite. Admission is free.

The day begins with tours of AberInnovation & IBERS @ Gogerddan Innovation Campus and the Smart Bungalow.  I don't know anything about the bungalow, but I have given a talk on IP Rights relating to Waste Management and Packaging at the Gogerddan Innovation Campus and can strongly recommend the tour of IBERS.

Between 10:15 and 10:45, attendees who have not taken a tour have the choice of a finance workshop with Mr James Pittendreigh of BCRS Business Loans on What to do if a bank declines your business loan application or an AI workshop with Mr Mark Price of Pugh Computers Ltd. on Using AI Effectively in Your Organisation.  From 11:00 to 11:30, attendees can choose between a Cyber Security Workshop with Colonel John Davies of SudoCyber on  Two paradigm shifts and a cup of tea please and a Circular Economy Workshop with Dr Gary Walpole of Cardiff Metropolitan University on  Enabling sustainable innovation in SMEs.

There is a welcome from Professor Jon Timmis, Vice Chancellor, Aberystwyth University between 12:30 and 12:45, Professor Homagni Choudhury, Head of Aberystwyth Business School between 12:45 and 13:00 and representatives of the Business School on how it can help attendees' businesses between 13:00 and 13:15.  There is a break between 13:15 and 13:30.  It is followed by further talks from Dr David Bryant of IBERS on Developing Sustainable Biorefinery Solutions for Business through Academia–Industry Collaboration between 13:30 and 13:45, Mr Price on Understanding, Using and Trusting AI at Work between 13:45 and 14:00, Colonel Davies on Who is Tom Kuhn anyway?!? Why everything we know about teaching and learning is failing in subjects like Cyber and AI between 14:00 and 14:15, Dr Walpole on Enabling sustainable innovation in SMEs: A Programme Community of Practice (PCoP) approach to support regional sustainable innovation ecosystems between 14:15 and 14:30, Ms Clare Davies Head of Procurement at Nidec Drives on From Disruption to Resilience: Managing Risk in Global Supply Chains between 14:30 and 14:45 and Access to finance and the role of Community Financial Development Institutions by Pittendreigh between 14:45 and 15:00.

Dr Lyndon Murphy, Director of Finance at the Aberystwyth Business School will close the event and Patrick Finney, Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Humanities, Aberystwyth University will propose a vote of thanks.

Those who missed the tours of AberInnovation & IBERS @ Gogerddan Innovation Campus and the Smart Bungalow in the morning have a second chance to take them between 15:15 and 16:45.  Alternatively, they can visit the stands or network with contacts during that time.  There is a drinks reception from 16:45 onwards.

The Arts Centre is a few hundred metres from the National Library of Wales which I featured in The National Library of Wales's Intellectual Property Resources on 3 April 2026.  I hope to visit it while I am in Aberystwyth.

The event appears to be a joint venture of Aberystwyth University, its Business School, Aberinnovation, IBERS and Global Wales.   Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during UK business hours  or send me a message through my contact page at any time.

The National Library of Wales's Intellectual Property Resources

National Library of Wales

Author Ian Capper Licence CC BY-SA 2.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

In Whom you gonna call? IP Professionals and what they do, 2 April 2019, I mentioned the British Library’s National Network of Business & IP Centres:

"A network of public libraries has teamed up with the British Library's Business and IP Centre to provide free access to databases, market research, journals, directories, articles and reports for entrepreneurs and small business owners. There is a programme of free and low-cost events and workshops on a range of topics, including business planning, marketing and intellectual property at each of the libraries. The nearest Business and IP Centre for North Wales is at Liverpool. There is also a Business and IP Centre in Birmingham."

Most of those libraries are in England, but there is one in Glasgow.

The Business and IP Centre network grew out of the European Patent Office's network of patent information centres known as PatLib.   I wrote about the centres in the UK in PatLib Libraries in the UK on 29 Jan 2015 in the NIPC Inventors' Club.  At that time, there were PatLib libraries in Aberdeen, Belfast, Glasgow and Llandudno Junction, as well as in Birmingham, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Sheffield.   According to the Intellectual Property Office's latest UK PatLib contact information guidance published on 19 Dec 2025, the English network has expanded but the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish centres have somehow dropped off. 

That does not mean that there are no intellectual property resources or services in Wales. The National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth is a copyright library holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals.  According to its website, it also offers a range of commercial services, including the following in intellectual property:

• "A free enquiries service;
• Access to free online IP databases;
• Literature on various aspects of Intellectual Property;
• Guidance on patent searching for those who are unsure where to start (subject to staff availability)

The Centre has also held clinics with specialists and if you would like us to put you in contact with an individual who specialises in the field, please contact us by completing the Online Enquiries Form."

I am also pleased to see that the National Library of Wales has celebrated World Intellectual Property Day.

Anybody wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Bridging Wales and London

The Shard

Author Mariordo Licence CC BY-SA 3,0 Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

In Wales Week, London, I described the events that take place in the days leading up to and just after St David's Day as London's contribution to an annual worldwide festival of Wales.  This year's Wales Week, London promises to be the best ever.  One of those events was Bridging Wales and London hosted by M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) in conjunction with the Foresight Group and Menter Môn.

The event took place on the 23rd floor of the Shard between 16:00 and 18:00 on 25 Feb 2026.  According to Wikipedia, the building is 1,015 feet high.  In pre-metric times, it would have qualified as an artificial mountain.  A mountain was defined as an elevation over 1,000 feet.   A tower was constructed on Leith Hill in 1765 expressly to convert the 965-foot mound into Surrey's only mountain.   

Entering the building was like boarding an aircraft.   Visitors were asked for photo ID.  Possessions were screened by a metal detector.  Lifts were summoned by keying in the number of the destination floor on one of several screens at the lift entrance that resembled iPads.  On exiting the lift, the view was spectacular.  I jested with one of the speakers that, on a clear day, it ought to be possible to see Calais.  

At the entrance to the room where the event was to take place, I was greeted by M-SParc's managing director, Pryderi ap Rhisiart, who conducted me to a front row seat and offered me refreshments.  Among the first to arrive was Anna McMorrin, MP for Cardiff and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Wales Office.  I opined that the programme for this year's Wales Week, London, was the best ever, but ventured that it was somewhat London-centric.  There are many Welsh exiles in the rest of England, including my MP, keen to promote links between their birthplace and current home.  It is no coincidence that our region, which was once part of the possibly Welsh and certainly Brythonic speaking Kingdom of Elmet, has a lot in common with Wales, including hills, choirs and non-conformity   

Just after 16:00, Pryderi called the meeting to order and introduced Anna McMorrin MP as the keynote speaker.  She spoke about all the good things to be found in Wales, from its glorious mountains in the North to its magnificent coastal scenery.  Having established herself in London, she remembered her colleagues' surprise when she announced her return to Wales. "But we know better", she said to her audience with a smile.  There are now plenty of incentives to open a business in Wales.

Those incentives were explored in the first panel session by Johan Dyer of Buildboss, Dan Parry Evans of Vedri Virtual Production Studio, Dr Huw Vaughan Jones and Lisa Storey Evans of Cook Street Consulting.  In the Q&A, I observed that founders and business owners need the arts as well as outstanding scenery, business support and other incentives.  The Pontio Centre in Bangor, with its theatre, cinema, exhibition space and FabLab, meets those needs.

Another panel discussion, chaired by Kelly Davies of the Cymru Football Foundation, discussed sport, another important aspect of life.  The panellists were Iwan Pritchard of Pelly, Tristian Griffiths of Your Empowered Mindset and Neil Thomas of Brandified.  In the audience was a member of the English women's football team whom Kelly introduced at the end of the last session.   I met Kelly again on the tube later that evening.  She was going to Euston to catch a train to North Wales, while I was on my way to King's Cross for my connection to Doncaster.  I told her that the theme of this year's World Intellectual Property Day was  IP and Sports, which I discussed in World IP Day 2026 - IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate! on 28 Dec 2025 in NIPC News.   She expressed considerable interest in the topic.

A lot was crammed into the two-hour event.   In addition to the talks and panel discussions that I have already mentioned, the Foresight Group spoke about the equity investments that it had made on behalf of the Investment Fund for Wales. David Wylie outlined Menter Môn's plans to promote Welsh food and drink.  I renewed many acquaintances that I had already made at M-SParc and made many more with UK and Welsh government civil servants, investors, entrepreneurs and business advisors.  The event was well worth the long journey on the first warm day of the year.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.