Looking to the past to help our future

We cannot compete with the labour costs of emerging countries, so the best way Wales can do business is through innovation – but how can we inspire the next generation of industrial pioneers?

Here, Dr Gillian Whitfield argues that it should be encouraged in schools, by looking to an illustrious past of Welsh invention

YOU may be surprised to hear this, but it was the Welsh that first flew, made the internet possible, ensured that climate change became an international issue, revolutionised the way we shop, and developed the system that would play a huge role in delivering Britain from the Nazis.

Saundersfoot carpenter William Frost flew his creation, Frost Airship Glider, over seven years before the Wright brothers made history – and for a lot longer and a lot further. Unfortunately for him, the occasion was observed rather than recorded. His plane was destroyed in a storm that night, and he was too poor to rebuild it or renew its patent.

Donald Davies developed packet switching, which allows data to be transferred between computer networks, essential for operating the internet - connecting you to Facebook, for example. Treorchy-born Davies is credited with the advancement along with US scientist Paul Baran, who independently developed it for military purposes.

Abertillery-born Sir David Brunt’s work on air quality and pollution, which began while investigating poison gas dispersal during the First World War, led to fluid dynamics, and how we detect weather change. Another distinguished Welsh meteorologist, Sir John Houghton is co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and lead editor of the first three IPCC reports that informed decision-making at the Rio, Kyoto and Buenos Aires environmental summits.

Pryce Pryce-Jones built and operated the first mail order business in the world. From Newtown, he sent goods all around the globe, to as far away as Australia, and his customers included Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale.

Edward Bowen, a Swansea boy, developed and almost certainly saved the radar from mothballing after it went wrong in front of top brass. In turn, radar was to produce an early warning system that gave the RAF the ability to fight and defeat a vastly superior Luftwaffe in the first stage of Operation Sealion, the German invasion of Britain, which never took place after they were defeated in the Battle of Britain.

William Jones invented Pi, Arthur Moore – upon hearing the Titanic’s SOS call in his homemade wireless studio in Blackwood – discovered that radio waves could travel far greater distances than first assumed, and William Robert Grove invented the Fuel Cell. Alan Cox developed the linux kernel, an important part of open source software, William Morgan, invented the Vacuum Tube and the Coolidge Tube, and was the founding father of modern actuarial science. Dr Richard Pryce developed the times tables as a teaching aid, Robert Recorde published the first English language book on Algebra which included the equals symbol for the first time, while Alfred Russel Wallace worked with Darwin on the theory of evolution.

These were brilliant Welsh men who helped shape the world in which we live today, but are there other ways in which we can tap into their brilliance? Can we utilise them a second time around, use their example to spark a new generation of Welsh innovators?

The first question should be: why should we be looking backwards when planning for the future? Every economy needs a competitive edge, and Wales finds itself alongside other Western countries in facing huge challenges from emerging nations, while never having enjoyed the same levels of wealth as some other regions in Europe.

There is no way that we can compete with countries like China and India on pricing. The Welsh Assembly Government understands this, and has decided that the best way that Wales can compete globally is through innovation. It has set about this task by demolishing the walls between its education and enterprise departments, as well as establishing incubators, support networks and, now, the single flexible investment fund.

Many of facilities are only available once you’ve taken the step of setting up your own business. But it is at school level that Wales can really make a difference in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. Students should be encouraged to have the courage of their own convictions, and given the tools to act upon them.

We can used the examples provided by Welsh pioneers to demonstrate that background, location and circumstances need not be a barrier to innovation, while demonstrating that education is the key to a successful future.

Would the Assembly consider introducing a Welsh Innovation Day, a once-a-year event across the country - and peculiar to Wales - where students would be able to study the lives and achievements of our inventors, moving on to examine the innovation process before considering and developing their own ideas.

This last part could form the basis of a nationwide competition. It could be organised by teachers and local authorities on either an individual or collaborative basis. There could be tie-ins with local business that could bring them into the classroom, to impart their experience and oversee projects.

They could be asked to financially support the initiative, and that doesn’t only mean prizes. Businesses could back projects with promises to move them into research and development if they are good enough. My own business, for example, could offer to patent innovations arising from such projects and maintain the patents until such a time when their originator is able to develop them into a commercial viability.

It would be easy to dismiss this idea, to argue that it is beyond the abilities of students. But it should be remembered that children do contribute to innovation. Heinz, for example, is forward thinking enough to have its own children’s focus group. Its contribution to the world was the squeezy ketchup bottle that most of us now use.

A Welsh Innovation Day would allow the Assembly to pursue its aims of promoting innovation in education, fostering schools-industry links and shared skills, through an event that it unique to Wales. It may be enough to give us that all-important competitive edge.

- This first appeared in The Business magazine of the South Wales Argus on Monday, May 5

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