Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, visited Cambridge Biomedical Campus to find out more about its contribution to the local economy and its role as the base for world-class healthcare, pioneering bioscience and innovation-led business growth.
He met Nick Kirby, Managing Director of Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) Ltd, and Charlotte Summers, Director of the campus’s Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart and Lung Research Institute. CBC Ltd is a non-profit partnership representing the health, research, education and life science organisations located on the campus.
CBC Ltd describes the site as the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. They estimate its contribution to the economy, measured by Gross Value Added (GVA), at £4.2 billion. They state:
- 22,000 people work on the campus, and every ten of those jobs supports a further nine elsewhere in the UK.
- Four of those nine extra jobs are in the East of England, including 2.7 in and around Cambridge.
- Lower death rates for both cancer and heart and circulation problems at Cambridge University Hospitals (Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth) save an extra 265 lives per year.
- Every £10 the campus generates creates a further £10 for the UK economy, £5.32 of which is in the East of England, including £3.91 locally.
The Combined Authority is working to support the Biomedical Campus in its ambition to grow sustainably. With expansion expected to create 27,000 jobs on the site by 2031, one of the early priorities of the Combined Authority was to secure the development of Cambridge South rail station to serve the campus. The Combined Authority provided early-stage funding to get the project moving and led a strategy to make it a standalone project, separate from East West Rail, to speed up its delivery. The then Government announced last year around £200 million in funding to get it built.
During the visit, the Mayor was presented with one of the latest examples of pioneering work on the campus when he met Dr Rouchelle Sriranjan, National Institute for Health and Care Research Clinical Lecturer in Cardiology at the University of Cambridge. He was told about promising research into a cancer drug which unlocks the anti-inflammatory power of the immune system to help reduce people’s risk of future heart attacks.
Mayor Dr Nik Johnson said: “Even as an NHS doctor in Cambridgeshire who has spent a lot of time on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, I’m never less than amazed by the continual pipeline of groundbreaking research and discovery. It’s crucial that this important hub of healthcare, medical research and bioscience innovation continues to thrive well into the future. We are playing our part through our work to accelerate new infrastructure like Cambridge South Station, opening next year, to serve the campus.”
Nick Kirby, Managing Director, Cambridge Biomedical Campus Ltd, said: “It was a pleasure to show the Mayor some of the ground-breaking science behind the world-class healthcare delivered on our Campus. The Combined Authority is key to helping us make the Campus the best possible place to visit or work, whilst recognising its importance to both the local and national economy.”
