DHBW Mannheim – Study Visit

21st July 2011

Cambridge Technology Cluster

Robert Jones Programme Leader, Executive MBA Lecturer in Entrepreneurship & Innovation

robert.jones@anglia.ac.uk

http://cambridgemba.wordpress.comhttp://cambridgearea.wordpress.com

Cambridge is an economic “hot-spot” – based on high-tech

We have a famous business area on our door step:-

Silicon Fen (Cambridge)

Copied from:-

Silicon Valley (California)

The Cambridge Phenomenon

Cambridge Phenomenon Conference 2010

http://vimeo.com/15767187

Cambridge Science Park

What is a science park?

What is necessary for a science park?

Cambridge Science Park

100-plus hi-tech firms

5,000 personnel

small start-ups

spin-outs

subsidiaries of multinational corporations.

There are now 60+ university / business parks in the UK

1970s slow progress, 25 firms

1980s cluster forming, social centre, VC, spin-outs

1990s 1200 firms, 35,000 employees, incubators

2000s to present dayIPOs, biotech, mix of types incl MNCs, life sciences, photonics, nanotechnology and materials science

Cambridge Science Park

St John’s Innovation Centrehttp://www.stjohns.co.uk/

Rent-Address 3 Star Service£7 + VAT per week

Cambridge Cluster

What is a cluster?

What are the conditions that influence a cluster to start and then grow?

Clusters

Porter, M “Competitive Advantage of Nations” (1990)

“Clusters and the New Economics of Competition” (1998) “Geographic concentrations of interconnected companies in a particular field” 

Specialist firms tend to “cluster” or co-locate.

Alfred Marshall (1890)

The Cambridge PhenomenonIn 1985 SQW published a study into Cambridge’s success.

http://www.sqw.co.uk/

The Cambridge Phenomenon Revisited (SQW, 2000)

Examined Cambridge's high tech cluster, how it originally evolved, and subsequently developed over a fifteen year period; the causes and barriers to growth in firms and the links to the research communities. It also contains a review of entrepreneurial attitudes and intent amongst a range of populations, including schoolchildren, university students and the academic faculty.

Examples of Cambridge technology

Sinclair computers

Acorn computers

ARM plc

Plastic Logic

Autonomy plc

CSR Cambridge Silicon Radio

Marshall Group of companies

Abcam plc – antibodies online

Key factors that encourage clustering are:http://www.dti.gov.uk/CB/biotechclusters/chapt03.pdf

Greater CambridgePartnership 2009

But most of these firms are very small

40% of firms are micro & employ 1-5 people.

20% of firms are micro & employ 6-10 people

Only about 2.5% of firms employ more than 200 people

Cambridge high tech firms are based on:-

Innovation

Design“Know-how”Intellectual property Patents

= High value-added

Exploitation by licensing to overseas producerse.g. ARM plc

Do we see the emergence of the New economy?

Manufacturing - - -

Service + + +

Knowledge +

What next ? ?

Hermann Hauser

http://www.amadeuscapital.com/

Co-founder with Chris Curry of …..

Continuing growth of high-tech:-e.g. West Cambridge development

More research sites:-Addenbrookes pharma & medicalHinxton human genomeBabraham biotechLandbeach research parkAbington research park

BUT ……. Some key problems

Venture capital - lack of “seed” capitalSkills shortages - recruitment problemsHousing - very high pricesLack of building land - “green belt” policiesTransport - road congestionPlanning constraints

Lack of seed capital is a big problem

The Cambridge Cluster - the Way Ahead (2006)

Report produced for GCP by W J Herriot, T Minshall & A Smeets of St John’s Innovation Centre Ltd on behalf of the Cambridge Technopole

Limits to growth - what can we do?

The Cambridge Cluster - the Way Ahead (2006)Explains the size and characteristics of the cluster – the context and the role of the University of Cambridge.

Reviews the concerns that Cambridge has not created any really substantial businesses – no “big gorillas”

Analyses the importance of finance, particularly Venture Capital Funding, in the growth of the Cluster.

Reviews the specific Tym recommendations on business support

Examines how we might be more proactive in attracting business to the sub region Takes into account the findings of the SQW Report to position the Technopole and Enterprise Hubs in a regional context

WarningWalter Herriot quotes:-

Michael Best in the Massachusetts Technology Road Map and Strategic Alliances Study “Choosing to Lead: The Race for National R&L Leadership and New Economy Jobs” (2004).1 “We need to collaborate more effectively and develop a technology roadmaps that looks five or ten years down the line. Without a road map and an economic development strategy, we run the risks of turning into Cambridge, England: we’ll have isolated clusters of the very best University research and a number of small R&D firms but not the downstream production, service and support jobs that make a vibrant economy. We’ll create all the new ideas but others will get too much of the benefit”.

L I B R A R Y H O U S E

Looking Inwards, Reaching OutwardsThe Cambridge Cluster Report – 2007

What can we do? 5

Silicon Valley comes to Cambridge

November 2010

http://www.svc2c.com/