Media Cymru’s launch in October 2022 turned the key on a £50m investment to make CCR a global hub for media production and innovation - and in our final ‘meet the Media Cymru team’ feature, we discover the excitement of the journey ahead for Lee Walters, Senior Producer and Funding Manager.

The launch of Media Cymru gave birth to a five year programme focused on making CCR a global hub of innovation. But what is the vision - and who are the team - behind it?

Media Cymru is a world-first: a £50m strategic investment programme focused on making the creative industries of CCR a world leader in innovation. But what does that mean, and what will it look like?

October’s launch of Media Cymru at the National Museum in Cardiff was more than the celebration of a unique collaboration designed to accelerate growth in the media sector of Southeast Wales.

The middle of April saw the launch of major new skills and jobs programmes, with CIPD Wales unveiling its pioneering Hidden In Plain Sight campaign to help bring thousands of disadvantaged people into the workplace, Welsh Government pledge £13 million for trade unions to deliver learning and upskill support - and Daikin and Robert Price introduce an innovative one-day training course to skill-up on the heat pump installations that are helping drive our green heating revolution.

The past seven days have witnessed major new developments in Skills & Talent across the Cardiff Capital Region - and Wales as a whole - with tremendous news that Cardiff & Vale College has teamed up with FinTech Wales to create a unique and inclusive fast-track training programme … Welsh Government announcing a further £4.5million funding for the Flexible Skills Programme … Caerphilly-based Educ8 becoming an Employee-owned as well as phenomenally fast-growing training company … and a heart-warming How We Live report revealing that 52% of Welsh workers would give serious thought to a “greener career” ….

Spring 2022 arrived with news that two Cardiff-headquartered learning providers will deliver the pivotal Jobs Growth Wales+ programme … two Southeast Wales-based apprentices have made it through the semifinals of the Screwfix Trade Apprenticeship Competition … Wales’ first-ever National StartUp Awards finalists have been revealed … and there was a welcome pay boost for millions of workers as National Minimum and Living Wage rates increase …

In our last feature, we saw how the spirit of innovation is transforming our Public Sector, with the pioneering INFUSE programme playing a key role as a major catalyst of change - providing a platform and framing the opportunities for public service employees to develop the knowledge and acquire the tools that will shape Wales and the UK for decades to come.

Careers Wales revealed how more than 60,000 new green jobs could be created in just two years across Wales … the Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index ranked Cardiff as the fastest-improving UK city for talent … further west, Llanelli’s Railway Goods Shed is the focus for a unique skills-based restoration … and nationally, the ACCA is partnering with Migrant Leaders to widen the accountancy talent pipeline …

Our Public Sector is transforming before our very eyes: being driven by new ideas, new skills and a renewed purpose. This profound change is bringing fresh thinking, broader horizons and ever-more tangible innovation - with the pioneering INFUSE programme providing the platform and opportunity for public service people to develop the knowledge and acquire the tools that will shape Wales and the UK for decades to come.