Cardiff University has launched a programme that will help develop low-carbon technologies in Wales and create up to 150 green jobs, following an £8.3m investment. The SEREN project, which will help businesses commercialise their ideas, is backed by £4.6m from the European Regional Development Fund through the Assembly Government. Further funding comes from the British Geological Survey, the private sector and Cardiff University. The research aims to create two new industries in Wales: coal gasification and carbon storage.

The Prince’s Trust Cymru Business Programme has been awarded a £1.3m grant by the European Social Fund, first deputy first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones announced this week. The programme, which is geared towards unemployed 18- to 30-year-olds, is also backed by £2m of private funding. The Prince’s Trust Cymru will offer young people with viable ideas £250 of test marketing support; low-interest loans of up to £3,000 are also available to help get businesses off the ground.

First minister Carwyn Jones this week announced a £20m initiative to increase the number of highly-skilled workers in Wales. More than 1,400 Masters degrees, with annual bursaries and tuition funding worth up to £8,450, will be provided by the Access to Masters (ATM) programme unveiled by the first minister at Swansea University. The university’s school of engineering will lead the ATM scheme, backed by £12.3m from the Convergence European Social Fund through the Assembly Government, and designed to provide graduates with the skills required by employers to drive innovation in Wales. The ATM scheme is intended to complement existing skill-based initiatives such as Bangor University’s £33m Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS).

A Sustainable Building Envelope Centre to develop low-carbon construction techniques is to be established in Deeside. It will be led by the Welsh School of Architecture and Cardiff University, with backing from five other Welsh Universities. The project is part of the £34m Low Carbon Research Institute Energy programme, which is supported by European funding through the Assembly Government. It will seek to meet environmental targets and commercialise breakthroughs to benefit the local supply chain.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, deputy first minister and minister for the economy and transport, yesterday announced £22m of investment in Wales’ four Regional Transport Plans. Funding will be split between the four transport consortia – South East Wales Transport Alliance (SEWTA), North Wales’ Taith, South West Wales Integrated Transport Consortium (SWWITCH) and TraCC representing the Mid Wales region. Each regional organisation submitted plans to the Assembly Government on how they intended to improve and maintain the transport network in its area. The funding allocation resulted in SEWTA receiving £9.15m, SWWITCH £4.91m, Taith £4.93m and TraCC £3.01m, and will finance projects such as the £3.25m Swansea Transport Package and the £900,000 plan to improve the Pont Briwet Bridge in Penrhyndeudraeth. Jones, who earlier this week published the five-year National Transport Plan, said the focus of the regional funding was to “encourage healthier and sustainable forms of transport”.

A £3.2m funding package to continue the transformation of Ferndale town centre has been approved, deputy minister for housing and regeneration Jocelyn Davies announced this week. The scheme, which includes £2m from the European Regional Development Fund alongside funding from the Heads of the Valleys programme, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and the private sector, is expected to be completed by 2012. Meanwhile, South Wales construction company Jehu Project Services has won a million-pound contract to improve the leisure and community facilities in the town, including demolishing the Salisbury Hotel.

Carl Sargeant, the local government minister, this week announced an extension to the small business rate relief scheme in Wales. The relief increases the rateable value threshold at which properties qualify for 100 per cent relief to £6,000, with a tapered band of relief from 100 per cent to 50 per cent up to a threshold of £12,000. The relief, also detailed by Alistair Darling in last week’s Budget, is valid from 1 October 2010 for one year. Sargeant said that approximately half of Welsh businesses would pay no business rates from 1 October, and a further 20 per cent would also benefit from significant reductions.