Cambridge has announced plans to replicate the growth that has taken place in its innovation sector over the last quarter of a century in a timeframe of just ten years. In practice, that means almost doubling not only the number of technology startups but also accelerating unicorn creation and boostingVC investment. While improved infrastructure and a broader mix of companies are important elements, a partnership with Manchester is arguably the most eye-catching pillar of the plan.

By anyone’s standards, Cambridge is already doing pretty well. According to figures published by Innovate Cambridge, the city and surrounding area is already home to 5,000 innovation-driven companies, supported by an active community of local investors, 36 science parks and two universities. In a recent report, startup intelligence provider Dealroom ranked Cambridge University as the number one producer of spinout companies in Europe, coming in ahead of ETH Zurich and Oxford.

That’s where things stand at the moment, but as we look forward, where will the projected growth in the local technology and life sciences sectors come from? There are probably limits on the number of technologists and researchers who will willingly make the jump from laboratory to entrepreneurial life. Equally, in a world where talent can be hard to come by, there could be a ceiling on the availability of skilled people to underpin rapid expansion in the local innovation sector. And as we’re seeing at the moment, VC investment can’t be taken for granted.

So when I talked to Dr Kathryn Chapman, Executive Director of Innovate Cambridge – a body established in 2022 to shape the development of innovation industries in the area – I was keen to find out more about how the growth plan will be delivered.

A Focus on Diversity

The first thing that has to be said is that the plan isn’t all about promoting startups, or even scaleups. “One of the things that is important is the diversity of the growth,” she says. “We want to see equal growth among different types of companies. We want a healthy mix of startup companies, companies that are scaling up and then other companies, like Astra Zeneca.”

Dr Chapman makes an international comparison. “If you look at somewhere like Boston, they are very equal in their life cycle of companies from the startup stage up to unicorns and past that.”

In contrast, she says Cambridge is more weighted towards science and technology startups. The goal, therefore, is to not only boost the number of startups but also provide the kind of support that will encourage scaling businesses to stay in Cambridge rather than moving abroad as they grow. “We also see the growth coming from global corporations putting their R&D and headquarters here as well,” Dr Chapman adds.

That’s the broad statement of intent, but how will it be delivered? Chapman says further investment in infrastructure will be an important element. In today’s technology ecosystem, infrastructure is often spoken of in terms of computing and lab facilities, but Dr Chpaman there is also a need for places where entrepreneurs can meet, engage and work.

“We have had a lot of investment in infrastructure in physical and life sciences. Now we need to activate the people, so we can unlock all the infrastructure that government has invested in,” she says.

“The University has been asking the government to fund an innovation hub, which will give us critical mass,” she says. “At the Cambridge Innovation Summit we are launching a central community hub within walking distance of the station, called the Glasshouse. That’s a stepping stone”

Partnering With Manchester

Chapman acknowledges that Cambridge is a relatively small city and that in itself could put a limit on growth. One solution is partnerships with larger cities offering complementary skills and facilities.

The first of these partnerships is with Manchester. Like Cambridge, it is developing innovation districts and has a track record in research and commercialisation. However, while the cities share ambitions and also challenges, they have different dynamics. Dr Chapman says that’s where the logic of the partnership comes into play.

“Cambridge has a world-leading history of turning tech and research into companies. Manchester has a history of manufacturing and applied research,” she says. Potentially, the two cities will be able to take advantage of each other’s strengths. In addition, the partnership will pave the way for products and ideas to be tried and tested in both cities before being rolled out elsewhere.

Dr. Chapman says this will require a new approach to financial support and investment. “Historically, the way that funding is set up is that cities compete. We want to break that down and say we are not going to compete, we want to collaborate. We want joint funding and we want a joint investment proposition when we go to global investors.”

Tracking Progress

Dr Chapman says clear metrics have been put in place to measure success. These include 15 new unicorns to add to the 20 in existence, 1,500 more active companies,” $20 billion total VC investment and 60,000 jobs. Beneath that, we want to see more companies so-founded in Manchester and Cambridge and co-investment between the two cities,” she says.

There are accompanying social goals, not least £100 million reinvested into the community and increasing use of technology – such as AI – in local deployments, such as local government. Creating employment in the city is also important, with apprenticeships as a means to attract more people to the innovation sector. “We also want 90% of organizations to be hitting their climate targets.

All of this is being discussed this week at the Cambridge Innovation Summit with Innovate Cambridge joining forces with Cambridge Innovation CapitalCambridge Enterprise and Cambridge University to discuss the future and lay out plans. The next ten years will reveal whether those plan comes to fruition.