Welcome to Silicon Fen, the U.K. s Version of Silicon Valley

Welcome to Silicon Fen, the U.K.'s Version of Silicon Valley

Greater 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

Population of Cambridgeshire (East of England)	730,000
Projected Cambridgeshire population growth	25% by 2021
Number of East of England ICT companies	Over 5,000
Number of East of England overseas-owned businesses	1,400
East of England pool of technologists	Approximately 90,000
East of England early output of IT graduates	Approximately 7,000
East of England average rate of economic growth 1993 “1998	3.5%
East of England business expenditure on R&D as % of regional GDP	2.84%
East of England government expenditure on R&D as % of regional GDP	0.36%
Company investments in Cambridgeshire (5/2000 to 5/2001)	28 (40% growth over previous year)
Marketing by East of England Investment Agency (5/2000 to 5/2001)	Included 55 overseas company visits
East of England % of labor force in business R&D	1.22%
U.K. investment market share in Europe	26%
Sources: U.K government estimates; East of England Development Agency, eeda.org.uk.