CEO, Comtek Network Systems UK Ltd & Chair DBF North Wales has amassed some of the most technologically advanced manufacturing and engineering firms in the whole of the UK. North East Wales is the advanced manufacturing powerhouse for the United Kingdom with 34% of its employment coming from manufacturing. These industries have created high quality, high skilled employment for Wales. The creation of such an impressive industrial hub has taken over half a century of hard work, led by Lord Barry Jones who was then a local Member of Parliament. Unfortunately, the pandemic has inflicted an existential threat to this renowned industrial region.