Could Cambridge be twice as good at twice the size?

It feels like we now receive news almost weekly about the plans for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, and the associated developments in and around Cambridge aimed at incubating new start-ups and university spinouts by providing offices, laboratories, and other facilities.

Cambridge has long punched above its weight economically, and the city has been ranked as the most intensive science and technology cluster (based on patent applications per capita) in the world.

To capitalise further on this, as reported in the Financial Times this week, the current plans for the city include a new purpose-built, 80,000 square foot “innovation hub” to bring together founders and investors and feed into the anticipated “supercluster” between Oxford and Cambridge, on which much of the UK government’s hopes for economic growth are pinned. 

As a patent attorney based in Marks & Clerk’s Cambridge office, I have first-hand experience of the city’s success at innovating to date. I have the privilege of working with many exciting local technology companies, helping them to develop their IP portfolios and attract investment.

However, as a resident of the city, I am also very familiar with the sky-high housing costs, poor local public transport connections, and high levels of congestion in the city. It is feared by some that these problems may act as a barrier to retaining skilled tech workers. 

Hopefully, then, the reported plan to double Cambridge’s size (albeit over 25 years) may go some way to alleviating these issues by providing much-needed homes and infrastructure for the city.

Of course, plans to build new homes, and other facilities, can be controversial with local politicians and existing residents. As reported in the article, concerns about water scarcity have long plagued Cambridge’s growth plans (a new reservoir is planned for the region, but it won’t be completed for over a decade).

Ultimately, I think that problems such as these can be overcome, at least partly thanks to one of the main drivers of economic growth: innovation (solar-powered water purification, anyone?). And surely, there’s no better place for that than Cambridge!

Can Cambridge be a model for kick-starting the British economy?

www.ft.com/...