Swansea Bay City Deal

We completed a series of case studies for the Digital Infrastructure programme as part of the Swansea Bay City Deal and how the project looks to bring better connectivity in the region.

Our series of films looked to highlight the positive impact the deal has had on several areas with both rural and urban areas seeing real difference as a result of the deal, with the deal also being seen as a gamechanger for local business.

There have been several partners working on this deal with Swansea City, Carmarthenshire, Neath-Port Talbot and Pembrokeshire councils all working on these deals as well as support from both the Welsh and UK Government as well as health-boards and universities.

In our opening film, we highlighted how industries as a whole are seeing the benefits of the deal. Another one of our films we highlighted how beneficial the deal has been for agriculture with dairy farmer Stephen James and how new technology has helped him adapt such as electronic identification in cows and collars that track the movement and condition of the animals. Another example we covered was Arwain DGC and the issues that surrounded connectivity and that with the new technology they have managed to find responsible ways of using antimicrobials on farms and that the new technology has helped improve the health and environment in farming. Another point in the film raised by Dija Oliver was that because of the variety of businesses in rural areas that operate in different industries the new technology was a matter of great importance to how businesses function and that they would have been far less efficient without this deal in place.

We completed a recap for how successful 2024 had been in regards to the project. We highlighted numerous key achievements such as connecting 51 public sector areas with full fibre broadband and increasing connectivity for homes and businesses. We also noted an increase in hybrid working in places that hadn’t previously been able to offer this. It was crucial for the success of the project being highlighted as nothing like this has ever been done in Wales. We managed to get a few interviews with key figures working on the deal and also gave some of the key facts and statistics behind the deal.

We completed a short film on the open access agreement and how beneficial this is to the project. We emphasised on how collaboration was key to creating a successful agreement and that there was plenty of support from so many people and organizations throughout the project. Swansea was also the first Welsh community to have this kind of agreement in place and from the success of the project Swansea will be able to engage in dialog with others who would want this type of agreement. By having this agreement in place Swansea could also attract potential business to the city and better connectivity gives business great incentive to set up in Swansea.

In this film we told the story of Melyn Tregwynt, a wool weaving business based in Pembrokeshire that had previously suffered due to the poor connectivity in the area listing networks crashing when there were to many guests and issues with payments. A lack of advanced technology was also an issue due to the location and that cloud-based technology wasn’t possible for the area. In the video we highlighted how much of a difference the deal had made to how the business operated.

On the Digital Champions film there was a focus on connecting communities with poor connectivity. In the video many of the individuals involved stated how they felt their role had been made easier as a result of the deal and that they have been able to help educate people on issues and how they can help address them. Communication was vital for the Digital Champions as they could establish a single point of contact in regards to issues making them much simpler to deal with when issues in the field can be complex to deal with. Another point that was consistently mentioned during this film was data accessibility and how people’s jobs can be made easier by having data demonstrate which areas needed to see the benefits of the deal most.

We managed to document the 2025 Digital Infrastructure Programme Conference in Parc Y Scarlets and to measure what further impact the deal has had from the previous year. One of the major things discussed in the conference was the community first approach that had been taken and that collaboration between partners was crucial to making this happen and this approach has led to both social and economic benefits. It was strongly emphasised that there is a lot to be excited about as a result of this deal. The project has consistently been innovating and all partners are playing a significant role. Representatives from both the Welsh and UK Governments were present at the conference as the deal has had significant backing from both and they were also able to contribute with others do discuss the future of the project and building on established collaboration.

We recently did a video on the 5G innovation fund at Swansea University which was looking to drive innovation across target areas such as health and life science, sport and smart manufacturing. Swansea University have seen huge benefits as a result in terms of productivity and research and establishing great relationships with local authorities. One instance of how 5G innovation has improved how Swansea University operate research into gambling and using this technology to simulate environments. Vodafone have also been involved in installing the 5G technology at both campuses and the company has seen an opportunity to do more work across Wales. Due to this advanced connectivity more can be done as a result across research and working with partners.

The Result

The series of films we created were effective, we included interviews with those involved in the deal, the use of drone capture and on-screen text to give context to the subjects being discussed. As a result of the interviews conducted, we have been able to provide a broad perspective on the Swansea Bay City Deal covering several industries. This approach allowed us to expand knowledge of the deal to several communities across the area and highlight the benefits of the deal.

We also told the story of what the three main objectives of the Swansea Bay City Deal and documented how each of them had been addressed in our short films. The interviews that were conducted allowed for further insight into their businesses, previous issues, how they were addressed and what this means for any future work. With such a range of perspectives and there being so many different stories to tell. This was a very interesting project to complete a case study for and definitely one to keep a close eye on.