Author: Rhys Gregory

The UK Space Agency has announced £50 million of funding for ambitious and innovative projects that will supercharge the UK’s satellite communications industry. The funding, which is part of the European Space Agency (ESA) Advanced Research in Telecommunications Services (ARTES) programme, is available for a wide range of projects, such as developing new satellite constellations, the ground systems needed to access them, or whole end-to-end systems delivering new services to customers. These could include integrating 5G systems to unlock connectivity for people and machines through upgrading infrastructure to enable new markets and services such as drones or driverless haulage, creating…

Creative freelancers and SMEs in the Cardiff Capital Region and across Wales with an idea for new products, services or experiences in the media sector can apply for up to £10,000 of seed funding, thanks to the launch of the Media Cymru Innovation Pipeline. Applications for the first Media Cymru Seed Fund round open on 23 January, offering creators an unprecedented opportunity to secure innovation funding for research and development (R&D) of ideas. Launched in 2022, Media Cymru exists to help develop businesses and individuals within the sector with a series of funding rounds, training, research and opportunities over five…

Finance Minister, Rebecca Evans, visited Centerprise International’s new £6m IT operations centre yesterday which will bring 70 new jobs to the area. The IT provider’s 17-acre site in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly was opened in October following a £6m investment supported by Welsh Government. The company aims to generate a minimum of 70 new jobs in the region, ranging from PC building to cloud services. Many of the new jobs will be apprenticeships, working in collaboration with technical colleges in the surrounding area. The new development is a significant further investment in Wales for Centerprise and is an indication of its…

Climate activists, public sector workers, influencers, schools and a Hollywood actor join a list of some of the people highlighted by the first Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie Howe, for making a positive difference to Wales’ present and future. Wales is the only country in the world with a Well-being of Future Generations Act and Ms Howe is coming to the end of her term as the world’s first statutory Future Generations Commissioner.  To date, some of the achievements of the Act and commissioner’s role include helping to put a basic income trial on the agenda, interventions in transport that lead to the M4 relief road being scrapped in favour of more funding for…

The Institute of Directors (IoD) Wales, in partnership with Cardiff Business School has launched its annual search for the nation’s highest achieving business leaders. The Director of the Year Awards 2023 seek to reward the successes of directors representing a wide spectrum of businesses, organisations and sectors the length and breadth of Wales. Applications for this year’s awards are welcomed until Friday 17 March 2023. A shortlist will then be released prior to the awards ceremony which will take place on Friday 12 May at ICC Wales, Newport. With sponsors including Educ8, Sony Technology Centre, Iterate, Welsh Government, S’Investec, Development…

The date for the 2023 Swansea City Centre Conference & Exhibition has been announced. It will return to Swansea Arena on Wednesday March 29, following the success of last year’s conference at the venue. The event, which launched in 2019, is a major opportunity for Swansea’s retailers, regional businesses, community projects and not-for-profit organisations to raise their profile and make connections. Last year’s event – the first to be held at Swansea Arena – attracted over 120 exhibitors and over 2500 delegates. Businesses, campaigners, employers and anyone interested in Swansea’s future are invited to attend this year’s event, which will…

Swansea-based kidney charity, Popham Kidney Support, recently announced it will receive £489,477 of grant funding from The National Lottery over the next five years, during its tenth year in operation. The 5-year grant from People & Places was awarded to develop the charity’s Peer Support Services throughout Wales. The funding was awarded based on the charity providing a five-year plan for growth, focusing on its expansion across the whole of Wales. To facilitate this development, the charity is expanding its recruitment of volunteers, peer mentors who are people with or affected by kidney disease themselves. Over the next five years,…

Jeffrey Ross, one of Cardiff’s leading independent sales and lettings agents, has bought ACJ Sales and Lettings in Penarth. Jeffrey Ross has acquired the 30-year-old family business from its founder Anthony Jones in a deal which will see all 12 staff members at ACJ retained. The companies’ services will merge, where clients of both businesses will benefit from 50 years of combined expertise gained in the south Wales property market. This is the second buy out Jeffrey Ross has completed in recent years, following its acquisition of Seel and Co, one of Wales’ oldest auction houses, in 2019. Ross Hooper…

The average house price in Wales reached a new peak of £249,076 at the end of 2022, but cost of living pressures, higher interest rates and stagnant earnings are expected to contribute to a market slowdown. The figures have been released from Principality Building Society’s Wales House Price Index for Q4 2022 (October-December), which demonstrates the rise and fall in house prices in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales. Despite an almost double-digit price rise – 9.9% – when compared to the same period the previous year, this is the weakest annual price rise in Wales since early…

A Welsh travel boss has revealed there’s a massive demand for sunshine holidays with bookings up by 25 per cent on pre-Covid levels. According to Hays Travel North West managing director Don Bircham, January is the peak period for the industry with families desperate to escape the cold, wet and gloomy weather. This year the numbers are 25 per cent up on January 2020 – two months before Covid lockdown hit in March that year – as customers beat a path to the doors of their 47 shops across North Wales and the North West on the first Saturday of…