Technium are a group of buildings in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

that are part of the property portfolios of

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

. They have attracted an increasing number of companies as tenants. Technium was originally an innovation programme by the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

History

Innovation programme

Technium was the brand name of a business incubation scheme in

. The scheme provides tenants with office space, business support, fast telecom links and venture finance. The concept was originally developed by a partnership between

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

and the

Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and ...

(WDA), which built an Innovation Centre at the university in 1986. The project led to the construction of the first Technium building, a purpose-built £2m facility to house general technology at Prince of Wales Dock,

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, opened in 2001. In October 2001, the WDA decided to build five more Technium centres across Wales in an effort to spur innovation in the Welsh economy. In 2003, a £150m expansion of the Technium programme was a key part of the

Welsh Assembly Government Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

's three-year Innovation Action Plan. The Technium programme's attempt to develop indigenous businesses was described as radically different from the WDA's previous

inward investment Inward investment is the injection of money from an external source into a region, in order to purchase capital goods for a branch of a corporation to locate or develop its presence in the region. Foreign sources, such as transnational corporatio ...

strategy, which sought to attract foreign employers to Wales. However, critics have argued that the scheme is over-ambitious, with too many incubator spaces than can be filled by local academic

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

, and focuses on property development and leasing space, rather than management assistance for new ventures. A 2009 report on the Technium initiative by DTZ showed that since the first Technium was opened, 151 tenant companies had been accommodated. Eighty-two were still in residence, 38 had moved to other locations and 22 had failed. The ''Western Mail'' argued that the scheme's performance had been "mixed at best... the tenants have created nearly 1,000 jobs, but surely they would have been created anyway and found suitable accommodation from private sector landlords." In November 2010, following a substantial review process, it was announced by the Welsh Assembly Government that six Technium centres were to be removed from the network - Pembrokeshire, Aberystwyth, Bangor (CAST), Pencoed (Sony), Baglan, and Llanelli. Later Technium Centres: * Technium Digital,

* Technium OpTIC,

St Asaph St Asaph (; "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...

* Technium Swansea,

* Technium Springboard,

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

The Former Technium OpTIC is now a campus of Wrexham Glyndŵr University.

Business properties

After the closure of the Technium programme, a number of the original Technium buildings are managed by local authorities in Wales. These properties gave attracted an increasing number of companies as tenants.

References

{{Economy of Wales Welsh Government Swansea University Economy of Wales Innovation in the United Kingdom Business incubators of the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2001