Welcome to Silicon Fen, the U.K.'s Version of Silicon ValleyGreater Cambridge, with the city of Cambridge at its heart, sits within the wider region defined as the East of England. The East of England region is one of the fastest growing in the U.K. Fortune , Newsweek , and Business Week have identified the Greater Cambridge area as Europe's number one R&D location, and one of the most likely in Europe to challenge the U.S. region of Silicon Valley for high-technology “driven innovation. In the Cambridge area, a remarkable and vigorous process of new high-technology firm creation and spin-offs from Cambridge University and from other firms has been developing considerable momentum since the 1970s. Labeled by the Cambridge consultancy SQW [1] "The Cambridge Phenomenon," this process has completely transformed the region's economic structure, with the vice chancellor of Cambridge University even claiming that the Cambridge area represents "the British Equivalent of Silicon Valley" in 1996 [2] ” the name now adopted is Silicon Fen. While elsewhere in Europe, many high-tech clusters have grown around large manufacturing companies (Ericsson in Stockholm, Siemens in Munich), the structure of Silicon Fen in Cambridge is more like California's Silicon Valley, although admittedly, it is much, much smaller. Cambridge has grown from the bottom up, in what locals call a grass roots dynamic into an entrepreneurial center that today is well plugged into a network of money and experience throughout Europe and America. Cambridge is a small place populated for the most part with small companies. It does boast some large international names including Microsoft, Toshiba, and AT&T, but their activities are mainly confined to research and development. The cluster is furthermore characterized by its diversity and interdisciplinary nature, including biotechnology/ pharmaceuticals , software/electronics, ICT, telecommunications, and Internet companies. Table 11-1. Facts at a Glance ” Cambridge
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