Silicon Fen

Silicon Fen (also known as the Cambridge Cluster) is the name given to the region around Cambridge, England, which is home to a large cluster of high-tech businesses focusing on software, electronics and biotechnology, such as Arm and AstraZeneca.

It is called "Silicon Fen" by analogy with Silicon Valley in California, because it lies at the southern tip of the English Fenland. The local growth in technology companies started with Sinclair Research and Acorn Computers.

Business growth

More than 1000 high-technology companies established offices in the area during the five years preceding 1998. Some early successful businesses were Advanced RISC Machines and Cambridge Display Technology. In 2004, 24% of all UK venture capital (8% of all the EU's) was received by Silicon Fen companies, according to the Cambridge Cluster Report 2004 produced by Library House and Grant Thornton.

The so-called ''Cambridge phenomenon'', giving rise to start-up companies in a town previously only having a little light industry in the electrical sector, is usually dated to the founding of the Cambridge Science Park in 1970: this was an initiative of Trinity College, University of Cambridge and moved away from a traditional low-development policy for Cambridge.

The characteristic of Cambridge is small companies (as few as three people, in some cases) in sectors such as computer-aided design. They are spread over an area defined perhaps by the CB postcode or 01223 telephone area code, or more generously in an area bounded by Ely, Newmarket, Saffron Walden, Royston and Huntingdon.

In 2000, then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown set up a research partnership between MIT and Cambridge University, the Cambridge–MIT Institute, in order to increase international collaboration between the two universities and to strengthen the economic success of Silicon Fen.

In February 2006, the Judge Business School, Cambridge University reported estimates that suggested that at that time, there were around 250 active start-ups directly linked to the university, valued at around US$6 billion. Several of these companies have grown into multinationals: Arm, Autonomy Corporation and AVEVA are the most obvious examples, and more recently CSR has seen rapid growth due to the uptake of Bluetooth.

It was found in 2012 that strong employment growth was hampered due to the concentration on research and development. This was because of limited competition in manufacturing capability and its consequent cost.

Cambridge Ahead, the business and academic membership organisation dedicated to the successful growth of the city region in the long-term, reported that in 2015–16, growth of Cambridge companies continued at around 7% on a one, three and five-year view. Global turnover of Cambridge companies increased by 7.6% to £35.7bn, up from £33bn the previous year, and global employment grew by 7.6% to 210,292. The number of companies with their home base within 20 miles of Cambridge grew from 22,017 to 24,580.

Area characteristics

The Cambridge Network is an organization facilitating networking in the area.

Other possible factors include a high standard of living available in the county, and good transport links, for example to London and with Cambridge Airport having a full service business jet centre. Many graduates from the university choose to stay on in the area, giving local companies a rich pool of talent to draw upon. The high-technology industry has little by way of competition, unlike say in Oxfordshire where many other competing industries exist. Cambridgeshire has only recently become a high-technology centre, which has meant that commercial rents were generally lower than in other parts of the UK and thus giving companies a head-start on those situated in other more expensive regions. However, the recent technology boom has changed the situation and Cambridgeshire now ranks as one of the highest costs of living in the UK outside London, which is home to an even bigger technology centre.

People and companies associated with Silicon Fen

People

Companies

See also

* Silicon Valley
* List of places with 'Silicon' names
* List of city nicknames in the United Kingdom
* Oxford-Cambridge Arc

References

*''The Cambridge Cluster Report 2007'', Library House 2007
Download
*''The Cambridge Phenomenon: The Growth of High Technology Industry in a University Town'', Segal Quince & Partners 1985,
*
*''The Cambridge Phenomenon Revisited – a synopsis of the new report by Segal Quince Wicksteed'', Segal Quince & Partners 2000
Download

*''The Cambridge Cluster Report 2003'', Library House 2003
Download
*''The Cambridge Cluster Report 2004'', Library House in association with Grant Thornton 2004
Download
*''The Cambridge Cluster Report 2006'', Library House 2006
Download
*''The Cambridge Technopole Report 2006'' An overview of the UK's leading high tech cluster, St John's Innovation Centre 2006

*''The Impact of the University of Cambridge on the UK Economy and Society'' A high-level study commissioned by EEDA and the Cambridge Network in 2006,

*''INSIGHTS & RESEARCH , WHAT IS SILICON FEN?'' bidwells.co.uk,

External links

Cambridge Corporate GatewayCambridge Technopole

{{Science and technology in the United Kingdom

Economy of Cambridgeshire
Economy of Cambridge
High-technology business districts in the United Kingdom
Information technology places
Science and technology in Cambridgeshire
History of Cambridge