The spatial response
Greater Cambridge sub-region
Global centre for learning, technology and life sciences
The Greater Cambridge economic footprint covers parts of no fewer than nine districts including Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire, East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Fenland, St Edmundsbury, Forest Heath, Uttlesford and East Hertfordshire. The sub-region provides 365,000 jobs with an employment rate of 81 per cent. Over 43,000 people are employed in an estimated 1,400 high-technology companies, and Greater Cambridge attracted over 18 per cent of all UK venture investment in 2007. The resident population has grown by 6 per cent since 2000, considerably above the national rate of 2.5 per cent for the same period. Success has brought with it the pressures of growth, notably deteriorating housing affordability and congestion. There are also warning signs that the constraints in Greater Cambridge are beginning to erode competitiveness, with minor contraction of the cluster and increased competition to the world-leading status of the University of Cambridge. Despite this, Greater Cambridge remains a learning and innovation centre of global repute.
Assets and opportunities
- the University of Cambridge, currently ranked fourth in the Shanghai Jiao Tong ranking of global universities, and the leading research university in the UK and Europe. University of Cambridge spin-outs have attracted more venture capital investment than any other UK university
- world-class research institutes and science base including the University of Cambridge, the Genome Campus at Hinxton, the Laboratory of Molecular Biology adjacent to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the Babraham Institute and the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre
- globally significant information and communications technologies and biotechnology clusters
- corporate and/or R&D functions of multi-national corporations such as Schlumberger, Microsoft, Hitachi, Toshiba, Monsanto, with others relocating to Cambridge such as Philips
- an EU top-four locality for total institutional investment into innovative start-ups, number one in terms of investment per capita
- a strong presence of professional service, legal and consultancy companies and networks (eg the Cambridge Network) enabling business growth and knowledge exchange in the technopole
- specialist accommodation for knowledge-intensive and early-stageventures, including at least seven science parks or incubators
- a cohort of serial entrepreneurs, pools of management expertise, a supply of high skills, with an ability to attract international mobile talent
- significant heritage, leisure and cultural assets that provide drivers for the tourism sector
- a bloodstock cluster of international renown at Newmarket
- strong links to global markets and a history of international collaborative programmes (eg Cambridge-MIT Institute, Cambridge-Munich network links).
Constraints
- the lack of 'keystone' technology companies of large scale
- the declining availability of seed funding to support business start-up and early-stage growth
- a limited supply of creative, computing and technician skills in the local economy
- whilst a global leader, the University of Cambridge is small by international standards and unlikely to grow significantly
- housing affordability is a major barrier to attracting and retaining talented people
- high levels of congestion, both within Cambridge and on national and regional strategic routes
- considerable variation in economic and educational performance across the sub-region and pockets of significant deprivation
- a need to improve the cultural, creative and environmental offer to match efforts of other leading centres in the knowledge economy.
Strategic ambitions
- maintain the University of Cambridge as a top-five global university and deepen the local and regional impact of the university
- increase the interaction between local SMEs and the applied research capability of the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University through increased access to academics, departmental facilities and libraries
- increasing collaboration between the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University to ensure the complementarity of the research and skills offer for the local and regional economy
- supporting the expansion and growth of Anglia Ruskin University to be a recognised international force in specialist research, creative and technical areas
- deliver major new applied research and innovation facilities at East Forum and Addenbrooke’s, and ensure a long-term supply of high-quality sites for R&D and commercial activity
- develop a comprehensive suite of financial products to support start-up, early-stage and mature company growth
- develop comprehensive support packages to enable renewal through emerging clusters such as plastronics, display technologies, bio-informatics, semi-conductor design and environmental technologies
- develop a stronger creative quarter in Cambridge and harness the potential of the area to be a leader in the interface between the arts, media and new technologies
- diversify and improve performance of the economy of market towns within the sub-region
- overcome shortages of affordable housing and other infrastructure by establishing high-quality, sustainable new communities, including Northstowe
- address the major infrastructure deficit and, in particular, key strategic routes connecting Cambridge to regional and national markets, such as the A14 and rail routes to London, Stansted and other regional cities
- to continually upgrade the skills of local communities and ensure an increased supply of soft and technical skills into the local labour market
- deliver major environmental enhancement of Cambridge, surrounding settlements and create new habitats of international importance through a coherent programme and marketing of the Great Fen, Wicken Fen, the Ouse Washes, Needingworth and Fen Drayton initiatives
- preserve the unique character of the historic core of Cambridge and the distinctiveness of the sub-region's market towns.
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