Cambridge Ahead Industrial Strategy Consultation Response

25/11/2024

Cambridge is an unparalleled asset to the UK innovation economy, with over 5,500 knowledge intensive businesses generating revenues in excess of £20bn per annum, and 24 unicorn companies produced to date. It has been ranked the most intensive science and tech cluster in the world three years in a row by the WIPO Global Innovation Index. 

Investment in Cambridge is an investment in the UK. We acknowledge the strategic importance and responsibility of our unique position to deliver and support the UK Government's objectives for inclusive and sustainable growth. With well-defined plans, Cambridge has the potential to deliver so much more. It an ideal test-bed for innovation, driving collaboration with other regions to develop and implement scalable, sustainable solutions that will drive rapid economic growth in alignment with national priorities.

Achieving this growth requires sustained investment in research and innovation, a commitment to developing and attracting top global talent and a need to address significant infrastructure barriers. Provision of affordable housing, a secure water supply, sustainable transport systems and healthcare facilities are fundamental enablers of sustainable growth.

Cambridge Ahead has engaged with its members and local partners to ensure a strong, unified response to the UK government’s Industrial Strategy consultation. The major organisations in Cambridge have had sight of and input to each other’s responses. Each organisation has focussed on its specific stakeholders and strengths, and we have each cross-referenced other responses where appropriate.

The key messages below highlight the critical areas for investment and policy focus that will enable Cambridge and its interconnected regions to thrive:

 

• As the most intensive science and tech cluster in the world, the Cambridge economy is a major UK asset and a key enabler of the success of the national Industrial Strategy. The Cambridge city region contains internationally significant clusters in the growth-driving sectors highlighted by Government, particularly Life Sciences, Tech and Advanced Manufacturing.

 

• High potential subsectors where Cambridge has developed nationally significant clusters include Semiconductor Design, Advanced Therapies, Cyber Security, Gaming, and Genomics. Cambridge is a global leading cluster in innovation, services and intellectual property (IP), underpinned by anchor institutions such as AstraZeneca, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Aveva, Arm and the University of Cambridge. The role of Cambridge in the UK’s Tech economy should be better recognised and responded to in the Industrial Strategy, alongside its world-leading Life Sciences cluster.

 

• Cambridge is an international innovation gateway for the UK. Many global firms (either homegrown or international) are in the UK by virtue of being in Cambridge. Cambridge has the potential to establish new international innovation corridors with proximity to Stansted airport, and the proposed Innovation Hub would deliver a further national innovation asset on a par with those in Boston and San Francisco.

 

• The primary lever to unlock the next wave of growth of the Cambridge economy, for the benefit of UK plc, is infrastructure. The Treasury’s decisive move on revising fiscal rules to enable greater infrastructure investment presents a direct opportunity. The Industrial Strategy should capitalise on this by confirming support for infrastructure that enables the Cambridge economy (and the regional corridors it is pivotal to, notably OxCam) to grow, including East West Rail in full, the unfunded CSET scheme and the package of measures contained within the joint statement on addressing water scarcity which will unblock crucial housing and public services infrastructure.

 

• Cambridge should also be seen as a priority for fiscal devolution that leverages private funding to deliver infrastructure and creates a strong long-term incentive mechanism for local leaders.

 

• Addressing regional inequalities in the UK in a lasting way is not a zero-sum-game. The Industrial Strategy can adopt a much more progressive approach, tapping into the connectedness of UK clusters. A successful Cambridge directly benefits innovation clusters in cities and regions around the UK, a notable and exciting example being the partner city initiative with Manchester. The Industrial Strategy should recognise that investment in the shared networks of ideas, talent and capital in UK clusters will lead to long-term productivity gains across regions.

 

• The skills needs of local economies are best understood by local employers, educators, and training providers. The Industrial Strategy should recognise this by supporting the further devolution of skills and should support direct investment in schemes focused on making economic growth more inclusive.

 

• There are significant gains to be made from investment in better data and evidence about local economies. The greatest issues relate to the inaccuracy of BRES data at the local level, outdated evidence about the contribution that local economies make to the Treasury and SIC codes which urgently need to be updated to reflect the modern economy. Current limitations hamper Government’s ability to monitor and make policy interventions related to industrial strategy and devolution, and store up future problems by leading to under-provision in fast growing areas like Cambridge.

 

• To measure success, a wider view of economic growth is needed which captures externalities, such as the Wealth Economy Framework developed by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, to help ensure sustainable and inclusive growth over the long-term.