£10m Technium to go ahead (From Western Telegraph)

£10m Technium to go ahead

After months of uncertainty, Pembrokeshire has at last been awarded £5.2million of Objective One funding to establish the county's first Technium.

The Western Telegraph can reveal that work on the £10million development at the Cleddau Bridge Business Park, Pembroke Dock, will begin shortly.

There was mounting concern about the future of the project because of hold-ups in securing European funding.

According to Pembrokeshire County Council - one of the three partners in the project - it will offer the county's most talented young people the opportunity to return to the county and develop their ideas.

"The concept includes a network of state-of-the-art facilities across Wales served by the latest information technology and high-band width capabilities,'' said a council spokesman.

Technium Pembrokeshire will focus on the energy sector and will become a showpiece for innovation. It will be available to both existing and new businesses and will be equipped with all the facilities they need to develop highly innovative processes and products.

Pembrokeshire County Council leader John Davies believed that by encouraging cluster development across this key sector, Pembrokeshire would become a centre of expertise in renewable and sustainable energy resources.

A hub building containing a number of 'incubation' units will be built at the site along with research facilities. These will be staffed by a team from the Power Electronics Design Centre at Swansea University.

On the same campus will be two blocks of expansion units designed for businesses which outgrow incubation facilities.

Temporary accommodation for researchers and specialist business support teams will be made available at the county council's nearby e-commerce centre before the permanent move to the Technium in autumn 2006.