The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has shared its vision for The Innovation Matrix, the next phase in the University’s Innovation Quarter, part of the transformational SA1 Swansea Waterfront Innovation Quarter which includes the IQ and Y Fforwm buildings.  The aim is to create a vibrant neighbourhood where the University can collocate and collaborate with innovative businesses and research centres.

The Innovation Matrix is central to the University’s ambition and will provide a new platform for UWTSD’s research and knowledge exchange to connect with, and support, cross-sector MNEs, SMEs, micro-enterprises, entrepreneurs, and investors to stimulate commercial growth for Wales’s expanding digitally empowered economy. 

Funded through a strategic partnership between the University and the Swansea Bay City Deal, the Innovation Matrix will encourage and support the development of a sustainable, innovation led, economy which will significantly increase Wales’s capacity to meet the Welsh Government’s objective of building an economy based upon knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

The low carbon building will provide 2,200 sq. m of high-quality floor space and be situated alongside the University’s existing IQ and Y Fforwm buildings in the heart of Swansea’s Innovation Quarter. The Innovation Matrix will also provide a vital link into the University’s wider Swansea campus, including Technium 1 and 2, The Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea Business Campus, and the Arts Quarter of Dynevor, ALEX and BBC Building.

2022 is an exciting time for the University as we celebrate our bicentenary, marking 200 years since the laying of the foundation stone of Saint David’s College, Lampeter in 1822 and the birth of higher education in Wales.  The University’s 1828 Royal Charter is the oldest of any university in Wales. Today, the University has campuses located in Swansea, Carmarthen, Lampeter, Cardiff, London, and Birmingham.

Professor Ian Walsh, Provost of UWTSD’s Swansea and Cardiff Campuses said,

“It is fitting that in our bicentenary year we will be laying another foundation stone as we break ground on the Innovation Matrix, a new centre for digital innovation and enterprise.

“We take great pride in our history and our connection to it, particularly in the way that it has provided us with the determination and confidence to shape our own future as well helping to shape the lives of individuals and communities connected to the University.”

Subject to planning permission, work on the site will commence in August/September 2022 and is due to be completed in August 2023.