THE GOVERNMENT and the EU have agreed on an extension of the UK’s membership until October 31, 2019, at the latest.

This means you can continue to operate across the EU as usual until then.

While the Government hopes to leave before then, we will only leave earlier if a deal is agreed, which would allow continued permit-free access arrangements to continue. 

This means that either:
• The UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31, 2019; or
• The UK leaves the EU with a deal, before October 31, in which case, access to the EU will remain unchanged until 2021.

So until October 31 at the earliest, you can continue to operate across the EU as you do now, without the need for an ECMT permit.

The EU has also passed a new law ensuring that, even if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October, more than 90% of journeys to the EU won’t require an ECMT permit for the remainder of 2019.

Regardless of when the UK leaves the EU, you must register any trailers you plan on using for journeys outside the UK and Ireland.

This new requirement came into force on March 28, 2019.

If you fail to register your trailer, you may be fined or subject to other enforcement action.

A NEW venture designed to help Colombian farmers improve crop productivity is the winner of the latest edition of Aberystwyth University’s ‘Dragon’s Den’ style student entrepreneurship competition InvEnterPrize.

Developed by an interdisciplinary team led by PhD student Liliana Castillo from Colombia, Amigrow uses satellite technology and machine learning to assist farmers with decision making.

Along with the 2019 InvEnterPrize title, Amigrow receives £10,000 to invest in the development of the concept to bring it closer to market.

Speaking of the team’s success, Liliana said: “Winning InvEnterPrize is very important to us, there are no words to describe the feeling.”

“This idea started with my experience of agriculture in Colombia. With the support of InvEnterPrize, my team and I look forward to start testing the capabilities of Amigrow. We are going to develop the first prototype and create iterations of it so that we can really know what works and what doesn’t, and produce something meaningful for the farmers so they can take the right decisions at the right time and produce better profit margins.”

Liliana added: “Colombia is a very diverse country, we have very different environments for very different kinds of crops. Initially, we are going to start with rice producers as it is very important for feeding people in Colombia and in the world.”

Amigrow was one of 15 entries for InvEnterPrize 2019, and six finalists to present their ideas to the judges on Friday 29 March 2019.

Chair of the judges, Donald Davies, Emeritus Professor in Toxicology at Imperial College London, said: “We are delighted to award InvEnterPrize 2019 to Amigrow and our warmest congratulations to Liliana and her team on their venture.”

“InvEnterPrize is an excellent competition which brings out the best in the students, and this year has proved to be the most difficult to judge with all six finalists delivering excellent presentations. It clearly inspires students here at Aberystwyth University to venture and develop ideas that go beyond what they might normally do. It is so important to sow the seed of an idea that students can develop into a business, and this competition, along with the support the teams receive throughout the year from the University’s Careers service, makes this all possible.”

InvEnterPrize organiser and Aberystwyth University entrepreneurship champion, Tony Orme, said: “The quality of the entries this year has been exceptional and the final proved to be a very close run indeed. We are immensely grateful to our panel of judges for their valuable time and expertise in this year’s search for a winner, and to the University’s alumni who make this competition possible via the Aber Fund. We now look forward to working with Liliana and colleagues on Amigrow, as the concept is developed.”

Amigrow also enjoyed further success at InvEnterPrize 2019 as it won a year’s office space at AberInnovation – the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus, a £40.5m development at the Aberystwyth University Gogerddan Campus.

Presented by Dr Rhian Hayward, Chief Executive Officer of AberInnovation, the award was given for the best presentation in the bioscience, agri-tech, and food and drinks sectors.

Now in its 6th year, InvEnterPrize was established to further encourage a culture of entrepreneurship among the University’s students.

The £10,000 prize provided by the University’s alumni via the Aber Fund enables the winner to invest in equipment, facilities or professional services to turn the invention or business start-up idea into reality.

Entrants also had the opportunity to seek expert advice and attend a series of workshops and presentations led by successful entrepreneurs as they developed their final bids, gaining valuable advice on the way.

MEMBERS of the Swansea City Deal’s Economic Strategy Board are supporting a call for immediate approval of two major Swansea Bay City Deal projects.

The Economic Strategy Board (ESB), made up of private sector business persons appointed to the ESB say they want to help get the ‘Yr Egin’ and Swansea City and Waterfront Digital District projects over the finish line.

Their support comes after an independent review into the £1.3 billion Swansea Bay City Deal found that the businesses cases for these two projects are ‘fit for purpose’.

The same review also found serious problems with the way in which some business cases were prepared, describing them as little more than glossy marketing exercises devoid of detail and substance.

The Economic Strategy Board is made up of experts in key City Deal themes like energy, manufacturing, skills, life sciences, and business.

Chaired by Ed Tomp, the Vice-President and General Manager of Valero UK in Pembrokeshire, private sector board members include Scarlets chairman Nigel Short, retired consultant surgeon oncologist Simon Holt, and Pobl Group chief executive Amanda Davies.

Chris Foxall, finance director of Welsh car manufacturer Riversimple, and James Davies, Industry Wales executive chair, also sit on the board.

As well as an independent review, an internal review commissioned by the City Deal’s Joint Committee has also been completed to ensure governance is robust.

It found it wasn’t and described a breakdown in trust between the public sector partnership members.
The Economic Strategy Board provides strategic direction for the City Deal and advises the Joint City Deal Board.

Its functions include overseeing the production of project business cases and making recommendations for approval.

Mr Tomp said: “The Economic Strategy Board welcomes the publication of the reviews into the City Deal.

“Both include a number of recommendations which should speed up the City Deal’s delivery for the benefit of residents and businesses across South West Wales.

“Among the recommendations endorsed by the Economic Strategy Board is the immediate approval of the ‘Yr Egin’ and Swansea City and Waterfront Digital District projects, so we’ll do all we can to help with that process.

“The first phase of the ‘Canolfan S4C Yr Egin’ development is a terrific example of how state-of-the-art office and networking spaces can support our creative industries, while the Swansea project will combine world-class entertainment and 21st-century business facilities with cutting-edge digital infrastructure.”

Canolfan Yr Egin was never part of the City Deal and was tacked on after its construction was already underway. The involvement of the City Deal in the project is a fig leaf for UWTSD’, which despite promising it could deliver the project without public subsidy, went cap in hand to the Welsh Government when it couldn’t.

Public funding for Yr Egin was agreed by Economy Secretary Ken Skates over six months before the City Deal was even signed.

Mr Tomp continued: “Approval of these business cases as soon as possible would help maintain private sector confidence in the City Deal while showing the commitment of all partners to work together for the good of the Swansea Bay City Region.

“In the meantime, we’ll also continue to help progress business cases for the nine other projects due to be part City Deal funded because this investment programme has the potential to transform our region’s economic well-being.”

Chris Foxall said: “The Swansea Bay City Deal is a once in a generation opportunity to kick-start a sustainable regional economic development programme. It’s more than just investment – it’s the start of a journey that will build momentum, confidence and prosperity for our future generations. The City Deal’s breadth of sectoral and geographic coverage will ensure the impact is felt by everyone in the region, and the first two projects will evidence the physical and economic transformation that’s long overdue.”