Bloomberg Businessweek yesterday reported that venture capital investors are showing renewed interest in our region, and Cambridge is increasingly being seen as a model for entrepreneurship and real growth. Policy makers from all parts of the spectrum are visiting Cambridge in increasing numbers to find out what makes Cambridge tick and to draw lessons from Cambridge for the rest of the UK.
But what do we need to unleash entrepreneurship? Where is the next set of fast growth companies going to come from, and how can we encourage them? What are the secrets of Cambridge’s success? Are they relevant to elsewhere in the UK? What should government do and what needs to happen?
This event - which takes place from 6pm at The Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge, CB3 0GT- will investigate these questions and bring together the power of Cambridge companies, large and small. It promises to be popular so sign up today to be sure of a place.
Debating Panel
Lord Adonis was a Cabinet Member in the last Labour Government, and is currently the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure in the House of Lords as well as an adviser to the Shadow Business Secretary, Chuka Umunna MP, working on Labour's industrial strategy and work to re-invent the Business Department. Lord Adonis’s visit to Cambridge builds on that of Chuka Umunna’s last month to look at the Cambridge success story including the support eco-systems like St John’s Innovation Centre and some of the business triumphs like the rapidly growing Abcam, a billion pound company and global leader. Chuka and his team and Lord Adonis are examining how a future Labour Government could further support this success and the lessons on replicating across the country.
Dr Kevin Auton founded Aseptika Ltd in 2007, a company that develops and markets self-monitoring devices and services under the Activ8rlives brand. It is developing point-of-care tests to predict chest infections in Cystic Fibrosis patients for use in clinic and at home, through NHS EoE SBRI Phase 1&2 contracts and the Always Connected strategy through a TSB Collaborative R&D grant. Kevin A Auton has a PhD in microbial biochemistry and has spent his career in Life and Medical science companies, developing products for biomedical research and diagnostics. He is the named inventor of seven patents including: Biomarkers to respiratory infection (granted September 2013).
Dr David Cleevely (pictured) was appointed the Founding Director and Executive Committee Member of the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge in 2009. He is the Chairman of CRFS, which he co-founded in July 2007, and the founder and former Chairman of telecoms consultancy Analysys (acquired by Datatec International in 2004). In 1998, he co-founded the web based antibody company Abcam (ABC.L) with Jonathan Milner and was Chairman until November 2009. He has invested in over 35 companies and is Chairman of four of them, including the award winning restaurant “Bocca di Lupo”. He has co-founded three networking organisations in Cambridge: Cambridge Network (of which he was Chairman for several years) , Cambridge Wireless and Cambridge Angels.
Sherry Coutu is a former CEO and angel investor who now serves on the boards of companies, charities and universities. She possesses a deep understanding of consumer behaviour and the dynamics of both b2b and b2c businesses as well as decades experience in driving companies from the earliest stages through periods of explosive growth. She serves on the Boards of Cambridge University (Finance Board), Cambridge Assessment, Cambridge University Press, Raspberry Pi, Artfinder and Duofertility. She also serves on the Advisory Boards of Linkedin.com, Care.com and Tyze.com. She was voted by TechCrunch as the best CEO mentor / advisor in Europe in Nov 2010. in May 2011, she was voted by Wired magazine as one the top 25 'most influential people in the wired world', and one of the top ten most influential investors and women.
Dr Andy Richards is currently Chairman of Altacor, Novacta Abcodia and Ixico and is a Director of Arecor, Summit Corp plc, PsychologyOn-line, Cancer Research Technology (commercial arm of CR-UK) and Babraham Bioscience Technology. He was a founder of Chiroscience and an executive director through to the sale to Celltech in 1999. Since that time he has been founding and investing in new Cambridge based biotechnology companies including several of those listed above as well as Arakis, Geneservice, Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd, Amedis Pharmaceuticals, Sirus Pharmaceuticals, Daniolabs and Pharmakodex, all of which were recently sold. He is a council member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), a founder member of the Cambridge Angels, the founding Chairman of BIA Bioangels and an advisor to Vectura plc, CUTEC, 4D-biomedical and Toscana Life Sciences.
Find out more and sign up here.
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