The First Minister of Wales has said that Swansea University’s Bay Campus will bring new businesses to the area. Having taken part in the topping-out ceremony at the Engineering Manufacturing Centre, Carwyn Jones said he wants to see Swansea and the wider region become an engine for economic growth.

“It’s important to have places where we can create the ‘skills flow’ that investors want. When I go abroad ‘selling’ Wales, what they want to know is: ‘Have you got the people that we can employ with the skills that we need?’ Having an innovation campus churning out engineering graduates — people who can design new things, people who can literally invent new things — is important for us in terms of bringing investors into South Wales.”

Professor Richard. Davies, vice-chancellor of Swansea University, said: “ “EU and Welsh Assembly Government funding of our Engineering Manufacturing Centre puts us in a strong position to use this world-class facility to incubate and commercialise cutting-edge industry-led research and propel Wales onto the global knowledge-economy stage.”