Jobs hope for £23m Bangor University marine project

A £23m project which will help create jobs in Wales through the increasingly important marine research sector has been given the go-ahead. The investment will enable Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences to encourage hundreds of new businesses to grow, it is claimed. An innovation centre will be set up at Menai Bridge, Anglesey, providing support facilities for companies. It is claimed Wales has "unrivalled academic expertise" in marine science.Project manager Dr Gay Mitchelson-Jacob said: "It's about generating new jobs and about generating new businesses and encouraging existing businesses to grow. "Existing business might grow in terms of their turnover or they might be able to take on new people. "There are a whole series of goals. There's a large part which is about the research and development side - universities working in collaboration with businesses to generate or develop new projects or initiatives." She said Wales had unrivalled academic expertise in coastal marine science, and the sector was of growing importance in the country. "It's quite a large sector. Wales obviously has a large coast in terms of the coastal boundary," said Ms Mitchelson-Jacob. "And the coastal zone - how far the coast impacts inland as well - is ...