Sanofi Cambridge R&D, Mission Street and Kadans Science Partner take the total Cambridge Ahead membership to 51 organisations, which together represent a working population of over 40,000 across the Cambridge area.
Sanofi Cambridge R&D
An innovative global healthcare company, Sanofi is driven by one purpose: to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives. Its teams across the world strive to transform the practice of medicine, turning the impossible into the possible for patients, including the provision of potentially life-changing treatments, the protection of life-saving vaccines to millions of people, and affordable access to its medicines in some of the world’s poorest countries. Sanofi’s acquisition of Kymab in April 2021 further cemented its leading presence in immunology and established Cambridge as one of Sanofi’s global R&D locations.
Gordon Tillett, Cambridge Site Head commented: “We are delighted to join Cambridge Ahead, helping to build Cambridge as a dynamic and sustainable city, and for it to continue to be a great place to live, work and collaborate.”
Mission Street
Established in 2017, Mission Street is a specialist investor, developer and operator focused on the delivery of creative real estate for the UK’s evolving knowledge economy. Its mission is to become the partner of choice for the UK’s research and innovation sector, supporting the entire lifecycle from discovery to R&D and manufacturing.
Mission Street has a rapidly growing development pipeline of more than 1,000,000 sq ft of committed projects in strategic locations within Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol. The company is a major investor in Cambridge, currently bringing forward a new 23-acre science district on Coldhams Lane and The Press, Foxton.
Artem Korolev, Founder and CEO of Mission Street, added: “Despite Cambridge’s standing as a world-class innovation cluster, the city faces many challenges in delivering sustainable and inclusive economic growth and improving quality of life. Cambridge Ahead is a critical stakeholder seeking to address these challenges, contributing to research and policy, and integrating a multidisciplinary ecosystem of leading organisations and stakeholders. As a long-term investor fully aligned to the success and prosperity of Cambridge, we are excited to join Cambridge Ahead and actively contribute.”
Kadans Science Partner
Kadans Science Partner is the European leader investing in the development of ecosystems with a dedicated focus on the knowledge intensive sector. Kadans has invested across various specific areas, including food in Wageningen and life sciences in Leiden, and cell & gene therapy in Stevenage, UK. Kadans provides its tenants with an array of additional services tailored to their specific needs. Kadans is currently present on 28 campuses and science parks, in six countries, where it operates over eight million sq ft of space for over 450 tenants, including start-ups, scale-ups, corporates, government bodies and educational institutes.
James Sheppard, Managing Director – UK & Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be joining Cambridge Ahead. The vibrant scientific ecosystem in Cambridge is truly unique and creating technology that is going to impact all mankind. As the largest provider of commercial life science real estate in Europe, Kadans is uniquely placed to support the next generation of innovators & entrepreneurs in Cambridge.”
Founded in 2013 on the idea that better evidence leads to better decision making, Cambridge Ahead’s core mission is to ensure that a buoyant economy is a positive thing for the city that hosts it. Economic growth must be sustainable and inclusive of the communities that surround it – in essence Cambridge Ahead believes that Cambridge should be shaped by looking through the lens of quality of life. To this end the organisation undertakes research across a number of wide-ranging issues to inform future decision making, including, the quality of careers advice in schools, the affordable housing needs of young people, post-pandemic changes to working practices, and – at the heart of its efforts – a better fundamental understanding of what is happening on the ground in our economy.
Membership of Cambridge Ahead is curated to offer a cross-section of large-scale and influential employers that have a long-term interest in Cambridge as a thriving city. Membership is therefore broad, encompassing a number of industry sectors including health, transport, education, property and professional services. Organisations that are members of Cambridge Ahead share a common and active commitment to the long-term success of the city, and can identify with the challenges that are being experienced today. Challenges like access to affordable housing, attractive public transport options, education and training that sets local people up to access jobs in Cambridge’s high-value sectors.
Jane Paterson-Todd, CEO, Cambridge Ahead, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Sanofi Cambridge R&D, Mission Street and Kadans Science Partner to the Cambridge Ahead membership. Their respective expertise across the healthcare R&D and knowledge intensive sectors will bring valuable additional perspectives to our work as we continue to collaborate with our partners and stakeholders to be a catalyst for the success of Cambridge and quality of life across the city region.”
Discover more about Cambridge Ahead: www.cambridgeahead.co.uk
