Connecting the Region
We are connecting the region through our events, campaigns and digital platforms, including the Regional iMap. We’re asking everyone who lives in South West Wales (and yes, that means you) to join the network and be part of the movement for change.
Why Is This Work So Important?
WORKING IN SILOS
Every day we see the problems that are caused by people thinking and working in “silos”. Disconnected from each other, all in our own little bubbles, we make decisions and take action without a proper awareness of what else might be going on around us.
Not only are the four counties that make up our region disconnected from each other, but our public sector is too disconnected from our private sector, and both are disconnected from our communities.
Different business sectors are also disconnected – and even businesses within the same sector are often operating in isolation.
A lack of shared awareness means we don’t know about some of the most exciting companies and projects that are virtually on our doorsteps. It also means we are more likely to duplicate effort, we are failing to leverage our collective wisdom, the things we do are more likely to have negative impacts on others, and we are missing out on some of the genius that emerges when you bring diverse perspectives together to co-produce solutions to shared challenges.
Our lack of regional connectedness also means we don’t feel ourselves to be “one region”, and we have no shared identity, shared purpose or shared vision of the future. These things are going to seriously affect our ability to make change happen in positive ways – economically, socially, culturally or environmentally.
WHOLE SYSTEM AWARENESS
That’s why our first priority, for the region, must be to develop productive connectivity and create a shared awareness of “the whole system”.
Leveraging clever digital platforms and opportunities to come together in person, we are on a mission to connect the region, so that everyone knows who’s who and what’s going on, and so that individuals and organisations are better able to connect with others around shared interests and priorities.
Our mantra for the region is Connect, Collaborate, Co-create – so we see this work to connect people as the essential first step, if we are to start working together and making change happen across South West Wales.
We Are The Glue
You can think of the Centre for Regional Engagement as the glue that connects people, communities, organisations and businesses across South West Wales with each other and with the regional vision.
CROSS SECTOR ENGAGEMENT
We are operating across counties, across silos, across sectors and across all sections of society. We are connecting people like you with a regional network, helping you get things done and make a bigger impact, and making sure everyone has a voice and a part to play in shaping the future of our region.
When this region becomes better connected, and when we are all better aware of what’s happening around us, we’ll be able to start leveraging those connections for the benefit of the region.
We’ll be able to start connecting with others around shared concerns; we’ll be able to have productive conversations to surface the best ideas; and we’ll be able to work together and pool resources, to make change happen in the ways we want.
The goal is to enable everyone to start thinking and acting as “we” instead of “me” – to recognise that we are all part of the “whole”, and to begin to co-create the future from that vantage point.
Connecting the region is therefore just the first step – powerful in and of itself, but potentially transformational once we begin to leverage that connectedness for the common good.
Co-Creating a Connected Region
It’s been at least a year in development, and so we’re delighted to be able to announce, at last, the launch of the Regional iMap for South West Wales.
The iMap is a bespoke online map designed to help us connect with each other across the four counties of Neath Port Talbot, Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. It’s a simple concept with some unique features that make it a pretty exciting piece of technology for the region.
Anyone and everyone can join the iMap, and add their businesses, groups, communities, projects and initiatives to the regional map. We all have multi-faceted lives, belonging to local places, companies, conversations, groups and other networks – personally, socially and professionally.
The plan is to collaborate on mapping all these various groups and organisations, whether they’re formal or informal, social, academic, economic or cultural, right across the region, to build up a comprehensive picture of everything that’s going on and connect as many people as possible through the map.
What’s unique and exciting about the iMap is that it also visualises the connections between the individual map listings, to show who works with who, who is connected to whom, and who’s involved in the same things, across the region.
By adding your own data about who your customers and suppliers are, and which organisations you’re connected to, you’ll be helping to co-create a powerful database of regional connectivity that will become an invaluable tool for the region.
The iMap benefits from a managed tags database and intelligent search capabilities, coupled with intuitive sector-based and connections-based navigation, enabling individuals to explore the region according to their own interests.
Connect with the people, businesses, projects and organisations you need to connect with, to collaborate and make change happen for South West Wales.
Join The iMap And Spread The Word
You can register as a Free member, or subscribe as a Personal or Professional member of the iMap, depending on how many listings you need to add and whether you want featured profile pages promoting your businesses, projects or proposals.
The goal is to generate organic growth of the network, because it can only become sustainable when it reaches a critical mass of people, groups and businesses engaged with it. So please get yourself signed up, add your listings and connections, and do your bit by ensuring your friends, family, co-workers and contacts get themselves and their activities on the map as soon as possible.