Gareth Davies wants to give local companies a chance to break into the European market. Picture / Kenny Rodger
Gareth Davies used to break through New Zealand defences on the rugby field. Now the former Welsh international first-five is looking to help a Kiwi company break into Europe.
Davies, Australia and New Zealand head for economic development agency International Business Wales, was here this week as part
of an ongoing plan to build closer ties with local firms and to launch the international Technium Challenge.
The project gives finalists from five different countries the opportunity to win a place at a Welsh incubator, with support worth about $100,000.
Technium, an incubator programme sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government, tends to attract firms mainly from the United Kingdom.
The finalists - coming from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, China and France - will be invited to Wales next May to decide the winner.
Davies said New Zealand had been chosen because of its many synergies with Wales, particularly in terms of sport, culture and history, but also business.
"I suspect both countries have had to redefine and reinvent themselves over the years because of the decline of other industries."
Wales' economic story, steeped in coal, steel and shipping, was becoming a much more dynamic high-tech environment.
"I think some of the areas we are developing are similar to what's happening in New Zealand."
The incubator's UK-based entrants tended to be early start-ups but prospective New Zealand firms were more likely to be mature companies looking for a way to break into the European market to benefit from its population of 450 million people.
Technium has several facilities specialising in areas such as software, optoelectronics and performance engineering.
"With high-tech companies you have got to be global ... the market here is pretty finite," Davies said.
"I suppose you've got three options - you go to the States, you go to Asia, you go to Europe."
Davies earned 21 rugby test caps for Wales between 1978 and 1985, a time when understanding business walked hand in hand with the then-amateur game.
"It was always a case of 'if we were playing New Zealand tomorrow in Cardiff then I'm in the office until 5 o'clock on a Friday'," Davies said.
