Cambridge in Context Jody Chatterjee Executive Director, Enterprise - EEDA April 2007

What I will cover East of England in national and international context R&D, innovation in the East of England Cambridge – current performance and future growth What EEDA is doing

The 9 Regional Development Agencies in England

Productivity is high by national standards but lags behind London and South East

Greater South East (GSE) GSE = East of England, London and South East regions The performance of the whole of the GSE has declined World Knowledge Competitiveness Index rankings –East of England 62 nd in 2005 (out of 125 world regions) down 12 places from its position in –London (56 th ) down 10 places; South East (55 th ) down 15 places US and Scandinavian regions –much higher capability of turning knowledge/creative inputs into sustainable growth and economic output Asia-Pacific regions –rising quickly up knowledge competitiveness rankings

GSE importance to UK - regional balance sheet (OEF 2007)

GSE – intra-region variation in performance

East of England – R&D performance Areas of strength Core of EU Research Area (Espon 2004) Highest R&D investment by private sector as % of GVA of English regions Highest level of EU business R&D partnering 2 nd highest level of non-EU international R&D business partnering Leading English region in terms of new product to market Cambridge ranked 2 nd in Shanghai Index of global universities Significant number of 5* departments and world-leading research facilities Areas for development Community Innovation Survey suggests low levels of innovation across economy as a whole Major east-west split –Knowledge intensive firms –Venture finance –Skills base

R&D spend does not translate to innovative businesses

East of England – International Migration Net inflow to UK in 2005 of 185,000 people Luton (19.7%), Cambridge (19.2%) and Forest Heath (23.0% - US Airbase effect) have highest levels of foreign-born population of East of England districts Rapid rise from EU accession states and Portugal

Greater Cambridge – current performance Between employment growth of 80% –Five times that of UK in equivalent period Cambridge ‘technopole’ –1,500 hi-tech ventures –45,000 jobs in hi-tech sector –128,000 jobs in knowledge-based sectors (33% of employment) Cambridge home to the largest concentration of seed and venture capital outside London, and in 2004 secured: –25% of UK venture capital –8% of EU venture capital

Greater Cambridge – major assets University of Cambridge –Ranked second in Shanghai Global university Index –Cambridge has higher level of research income than Harvard –59% of departments 5*, further 35% rated at 5 –4,700 research postgraduates Anglia Ruskin University –Major strengths in applied research 11 major science/business parks Level 3 and 4 qualification rates above national rate Market-leading companies and research institutes Highly networked – locally and globally

Greater Cambridge – future forecasts Greater Cambridge total employment growth of 23% Hi-tech employment growth 21% –Smaller % of total employment in Greater Cambridge by 2021 But UK forecast for hi-tech job growth static to 2021 –Therefore Greater Cambridge will account for 2.2% of UK hi-tech jobs by 2021, up from 1.8% Knowledge-based jobs forecast to rise by 45,000 by 2021, accounting for 36% of total employment (Roger Tym/GVA report for GCP & EEDA)

Cambridge in regional context – labour market effect Cambridge highest ratio of people working in urban area v. people living in the urban area and in work 4 th largest urban labour market in region (well above scale as a population centre) This underplays wider sub- regional labour market because of diffusion beyond the city boundary (SQW Census 2001 – data for continuous urban areas) Cambridge

Cambridge – major regional growth pole to 2021 and beyond RSS Jobs growth to 2021

Key challenge 1 – Diffusing/replicating the Cambridge phenomenon? Diffusion Structural transformation underway in wider sub-region Need for leading business infrastructure Requires positive planning framework Ensuring availability of direct and supporting skills and capability Replication – what is possible? Understand drivers of current performance –Global university –Laissez-faire approach to exploitation of research, development and innovation (but changing) –World leading clusters –Finance –Networked: within Cambridge and to global pipelines –Co-opetition ethos –Entrepreneurial academics, students and business people

Key challenge 2 – Maintaining Cambridge’s global competitiveness University – increasing funding and leverage value Infrastructure challenges –housing affordability; transport, education and health infrastructure Cultural offer to attract and embed mobile businesses and talented people Addressing mezzanine finance gap Business support access and offer Creating and embedding companies in the region – ‘Gorillas’

What is EEDA doing? Enterprise hub programme Transformation of business support Access to finance – proof of concept, R&D grants, RVCF Running the Gauntlet Destination Growth Infrastructure investment work with Cambridgeshire Horizons and Greater Cambridge Partnership Supply chain development

Issues Why is it proving difficult to replicate the Cambridge phenomenon in this region and elsewhere? –Is the Cambridge phenomenon a product of a special group of people around some specific sectors during an unusual period of time with particular types assets and resources? –Do we have to accept that there will be different models in different circumstances/geographies? –What lessons can we learn and adopt or adapt in other situations? Should we expect Cambridge to be the ‘driver’ for the regional economy? –How far can a modest city/town be expected to be the driver for the regional economy? –Can we expect a global ‘business’ (the University) to also play on a regional or local level? How can a regional economic development agency or government help to create the environment to encourage another ‘phenomenon’?

Summary The Cambridge phenomenon is unusual and almost unique….but there are lessons that can be adapted and applied elsewhere The phenomenon has matured into a model that works for those involved It is still developing and transforming and may deliver ‘further’ sustainable benefits to the region