Wales has been selected to participate in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s prestigious global programme to accelerate economic growth and job creation through innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
The announcement was made by Economy Minister Edwina Hart who said:
“I am delighted Wales has been selected to join MIT Sloan School of Management’s Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP) – it is an exciting, pioneering two year programme that builds on MIT’s extensive scholarship and practical experience in generating innovation and entrepreneurship.”
The Minister, who met Georgina Campbell, the Director of REAP, during a visit to MIT last year, added:
“It builds on the extensive work already carried out in Wales to promote and support entrepreneurship and we intend to use the programme to drive and inform the development and growth of the innovation driven Entrepreneurial Eco System in Wales
“It also builds on our relationship with MIT through our membership of their Industrial Liaison Programme which gives Wales based businesses the opportunity to attend scheduled world class conferences and engage with the faculty on specific projects.”
Wales is one of eight regions selected from Europe, Asia and South America to join the third cohort which launches with the first of four interactive workshops in October at MIT. The other regions selected to participate will be confirmed shortly.
Each region will select a multi-disciplinary team of highly driven and influential members representing five key stakeholder groups that inform and influence regional strategy. They include:
- government
- finance
- academia
- entrepreneurs and
- industry.
Partnership is a key component of the programme with the selected regions working together to strengthen their areas of comparative advantage, sharing best practise and experience, while working with, and benefiting from, the extensive knowledge and experience of a diverse group from MIT faculty.
Using frameworks built on MIT faculty research and practise, regions can build their internal capability to develop and implement strategies linked to their specific strengths and opportunities.
Now in its third year, MIT REAP has engaged with more than fifteen regions around the world and is already seeing a preliminary and positive impact.
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