We've been working with the University, local councils and companies over the past few weeks to submit a bid to an EU competition, bringing together a number of stakeholders to think about this question. We don’t know our chances of winning but it's another useful step for achieving one of our objectives – to raise the business profile of Cambridge, nationally and internationally.
Because Cambridge is so much more than a city of two universities. This was evidenced last week, as the Government recognised the area's importance to the UK economy by committing to a "City Deal" with Greater Cambridge to unlock over £1billion of investment. The Deal aims to secure hundreds of millions of pounds of additional funding for investment in transport infrastructure and homes, to support high quality economic and housing growth over the coming decades.
Growth was also at the centre of last week's Network debate: 'How can we help entrepreneurs contribute to growth?' with a distinguished panel (pictured above) comprising Lord Adonis, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure in the House of Lords and adviser to the Shadow Business Secretary; David Connell, Senior Research Fellow at the UK Innovation Research Centre at Cambridge University; and entrepreneurs and investors David Cleevely - who chaired the meeting - Sherry Coutu, Kevin Auton and Andy Richards.
Sherry Coutu told an audience of 150 Network members that the Cambridge Cluster map had recently been updated to show 1,575 tech companies with a combined turnover of £1.2 billion more than a year ago, while David Cleevely commented that if we added the power of the entrepreneurial businesses in Cambridge together, we'd be in the FTSE top 20, with a growth rate of 10% last year – and equal to a 'Google' in size.
Lord Adonis said: "Cambridge plc is a big part of the future of UK plc."
But the key question is: how can we maintain our trajectory and further raise Cambridgeshire's game to help the UK more widely?
We want to help businesses be as good as they can be – and in particular to help innovative companies which are trying to scale up.
The Network itself is growing and ready to grow more, with excellent take-up of recruitment and training services; enthusiastic participation in peer learning groups; collaboration with business leaders, the Local Enterprise Partnership, the Councils, the Chamber of Commerce, other networks and stakeholders; and specifically recently with companies like AstraZeneca, to help its staff to move here.
Building on the noticeable impact that facilitating networking and sharing lessons has had in high tech, then wireless, life sciences, and clean tech, we have also recruited and will support a Director for Agri-Tech in East Anglia. This is a new initiative launched this autumn, requested by many in the industry, including our members, and funded by Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Foundation.
And, living up to our name, we have hosted well over 2,000 people at Cambridge Network events during 2013, ranging from high-powered political debates to breakfast briefings, business lectures to informal social networking sessions. Last night’s open event saw local independent food and drink retailers telling their stories and sharing their products.
We're currently refining our plans for 2014 and beyond, and welcome input and ideas from our members to ensure that we underpin and nurture sustainable growth in our region. There is much we can do to help Cambridge build business while remaining a fun and enjoyable place to live!
Photo by kind permission of Paul Hughes, Hughes International
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