Hywel Dda Health Board and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David have extended their partnership to further improve health and well-being in south-west Wales.

Hywel Dda Director of Research, Innovation and Value Dr Leighton Phillips said: “This new Memorandum of Understanding is about re-affirming our commitment to working closely with UWTSD to benefit the health and wellbeing of our region.”

Signed at an event on UWTSD’s Carmarthen campus on September 12, the MoU commits the partners to collaborating in several areas over the next five years, including research and development, enterprise and innovation and workforce education and training.

The partnership has already delivered a range of benefits, including the development of local workforce training with the delivery of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development programmes in People Practice and People Management.

The ongoing collaboration between UWTSD’s ATiC (Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre) and TriTech Institute has led to joint appointments, research and innovation projects, and commercial and grant funding awards.

Over the last three years there have been significant achievements in several of the education, learning and teaching programmes.

The next chapter of the research and innovation partnership will see the development of projects including the Centre for Social Innovation, which aims to bring together Health Board and University staff, along with the communities they serve, to find effective solutions to challenging social, environmental, and economic issues.

Work is still in its early stages, but the Centre will help develop and test new ways to achieve the joint goal of a Social Model for Health and Wellbeing, which will, in turn, improve the health and wellbeing of current and future generations.

UWTSD’s Professor Gareth Davies said: “The renewal of this MoU reaffirms our shared commitment to the region - driving practice from third sector partnerships to cutting-edge technology adoption, including AI.”