A plan to supercharge the impact of the Greater Cambridge area has been unveiled.
The innovation roadmap will aim to double the rate at which it builds unicorns, double the venture capital investment the city’s startups receive and create twice as many science and innovation companies – all within a 10-year timetable.
The transformative plan is designed to cement Cambridge as a national asset, capable of accelerating the growth of the entire UK economy and is led by Innovate Cambridge, the body overseeing the UK city’s innovation impact.
Leading companies to be founded in Cambridge in the last 25 years include Arm Holdings, Bicycle Therapeutics, CMR Surgical, Darktrace, Healx and Raspberry Pi,.
The aim is to deliver the same amount of economic growth in the next 10 years as achieved in the last 25.
Cambridge is firmly established as a global hub for scientific and technological research, boasting over 5,000 innovation-driven companies, 36 research parks, five hospital trusts, two universities, and a thriving startup and investor community.
It was recently named the world’s most intensive science and technological cluster by Global Innovation Index for the third year running. The city’s tech and life sciences companies have raised over $892 million in venture capital funding this year alone, up 38% compared to 2023, according to Dealroom.
Quantum company Riverlane’s $75 million round in August significantly contributed to this growth. This means Cambridge could be on track for its best year for VC since 2021, overtaking 2023’s $1.1bn.
There have been 62 venture capital rounds in 2024 so far, and nearly half (29) of all rounds were raised by founders who studied at the University of Cambridge, demonstrating that talent and ambition are staying in the city and shoring up the university’s status as the number one in Europe for producing spinouts, ahead of ETH Zurich and the University of Oxford.
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To share the benefits of innovation more widely, a new charity, The Cambridge Pledge, was announced at the Innovate Cambridge Summit this week. Inspired by organisations such as The Founders Pledge and Life Science Cares, The Cambridge Pledge will encourage founders to pledge a meaningful percentage of future wealth, and companies and anchor institutions to make charitable donations to tackle inequality in the region.
Kathryn Chapman, executive director at Innovate Cambridge, said: “We’re delighted to be hosting the third Innovate Cambridge Summit, particularly when Cambridge has recently been recognised again for its contributions to global scientific and technology research.
“Innovate Cambridge was founded to empower the city’s companies, institutions and organisations that make it such a hub of innovation, whilst at the same time ensuring this growth and success is for the benefit of the wider community and the UK. Today’s summit is the next stage in realising this mission and I’m looking forward to the discussions and conversations we will share.”
Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Cambridge and Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise said: “World-leading research and innovation is taking place every day across Cambridge in areas such as AI, quantum computing and life sciences. Researchers are developing the technologies and IP that will solve some of the world’s biggest challenges from healthcare to climate change.
“If we are to create the same level of innovation output that we’ve produced over the last 25 years in the next 10, we have to shift our innovation into a different gear. Never has Cambridge been more ready for business and to take on this challenge.
“We are joined-up and pooling all our resources across business, academia and local government to realise a shared vision of growth for the city and the region to continue to deliver innovation at scale for the benefit of the UK and the globe.”