What can emerging sectors tell us about Cambridge’s role in the ‘Growth Mission’?
06/02/2025
The Government has identified economic growth as its “number one mission”[1] and the Chancellor has acknowledged the crucial part which Cambridge will play in driving this growth.[2] Recent announcements have demonstrated the Government’s intention to support the city region to deliver at pace towards this mission,[3] and local leaders are keen to position the Cambridge city region at the forefront of this ambition.[4]
With the national industrial strategy and sector plans expected to be published later this year, the Government has already identified its growth-driving sectors – focusing on those that “offer the highest growth opportunity for the economy and for business”.[5]
Knowledge-intensive sectors will clearly be at the heart of this modern industrial strategy. With its world-leading innovation ecosystem, the Cambridge economy is well-positioned to play a central role.
The challenge, however, is that the global innovation economy moves quickly. Predicting the long-term future is difficult, making it challenging to determine which sectors to invest in and support now to foster future growth.
A successful industrial strategy has the potential to boost productivity and attract investment, stimulating the economic growth needed to realise the Government’s ambitions as well as tackle future challenges. So, how do we identify these future sector strengths? One of the most exciting emerging subsectors in Cambridge offers some potential insights.
Global challenges present exciting new opportunities for Cambridge
External shocks and global trends create new opportunities. From adoption of new technologies to achieving net zero and managing a changing climate – tackling the biggest problems of our time can drive economic growth.
Healthcare systems worldwide are focused on improving health and longevity by integrating new technologies. One such breakthrough, cell and gene therapy, has become a remarkable development in modern medicine.
These advanced therapies have the potential to transform patient outcomes, treat complex conditions, and even fight cancer—all while improving efficacy, reducing side effects, and ultimately enhancing quality of life for patients.
Cambridge’s greatest strength is in cross-sectoral innovation
However, with this new technology comes new challenges; one such challenge is the manufacturing of these innovative therapies, which require highly controlled environments as well as resource-intensive complex processes, leading to high manufacturing costs between an estimated $150,000-$300,000 per treatment for just chimeric antigen reception T cell therapies (CAR-T).[6] Manufacturing of more novel or complicated cell therapies can lead to even higher costs.
There is huge potential where groundbreaking science intersects with cutting-edge technology to provide a solution to this challenge. For example, Cellular Origins (a spinout from Cambridge Ahead member, TTP) launched new technology last year which represents a step change in cell therapy manufacturing, enabling scalable production using advanced robotics and automation.
“Cellular Origins isn’t about creating the individual tools to make the therapies; it’s about creating a platform to enable the life sciences industry to make the therapies at scale.” – Edwin Stone, CEO at Cellular Origins
Image credit: Cellular Origins.
Cellular Origins embodies an important lesson when thinking about ‘high potential’ sectors - the role played by cross-sectoral innovation. It was born out of a response to a new challenge at the intersection of multiple innovative sectors.
“The best inventions happen when you have different specialisms in the room.” – Marios Akritas, Academic Engagement Officer at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
The technology that Cellular Origins has developed is truly interdisciplinary and inherently collaborative—relying on a synergetic relationship between robotics and artificial intelligence, with support from biologists, to apply these innovations to the sterile industry. It does not fit neatly into one sector, and therefore may not always benefit from sector-specific interventions. Instead, it operates in this cross-sectoral space – where expertise and technology meet to tackle the major challenges of the future.
"Cambridge’s strength lies in the serendipitous connections it fosters—between disciplines, organisations, and individuals. These networks of expertise and collaboration drive the cross-sectoral innovation needed to tackle big challenges, from advancing cell and gene therapy to developing scalable manufacturing solutions. By building on these strengths, Cambridge can continue to play a leading role in the Growth Mission, delivering impact that resonates far beyond the city." – David Cleevely, Honorary Vice Chair, Cambridge Ahead
Partnerships between public and private can create new opportunities across the value chain
While firms like Cellular Origins represent potential for growth by providing innovative solutions to support manufacturing of these transformative therapies, delivering them to patients relies on different parts of the system and broader value chain.
Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s NHS Hospital, for example, was the first hospital in the East of England to treat patients with CAR-T’s,[7] and now it has treated over a hundred patients from Cambridge and the broader region. It is expected to expand its cell therapy laboratory to enhance its capabilities to manufacture cells for use in clinical trials, as well as develop new CAR-Ts.
Identifying future sector strengths is dependent on understanding the full breadth of a subsector in a given place, looking to the broader value chain and ecosystem to build on our strengths and maximise the benefits of innovation across the public and private sectors.
“Collaboration has always been the key to Cambridge’s success. The new Cancer Research hospital for example – which will radically change the way we treat the disease in future - wouldn’t have been possible without the partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals and the University of Cambridge, who will have three research institutes located in the building. AstraZeneca is also among industry organisations collaborating with the hospital to help shape the future vision. It means that experts from industry, academia, and the NHS are working side-by-side to invent and test the next generation of ways to diagnose cancer sooner and tailor treatment to the individual patient, based on their DNA. As well as the huge health benefits for people across the region and country, the societal and economic impacts are substantial.” – Nick Kirby, Managing Director, Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Collaborating in this way is already driving new opportunities to address major health challenges while fostering economic growth. For instance, Cambridge University Health Partners have united a consortium of organisations from life sciences, technology, and business communities to develop and scale innovative brain technologies. [8] The consortium won a multi-million pound competitive bid for funding from the government agency ARIA and are funding a three-year programme to find the next generation of neuro technologies, including new drugs, devices and data programmes. This collaboration is creating pathways to transform brain health and rapidly deliver these breakthroughs to patients in an accessible and affordable manner.
Image credit: Bioelectronics Laboratory, University of Cambridge.
Cambridge’s role in a new kind of industrial strategy
Historically, industrial strategy focused on “picking winners”—identifying businesses with the highest potential for success or in need of support. The Government has shifted its focus to “building on our strengths,”[9] recognising the need for cross-cutting solutions to address today’s complex challenges.
So what are these strengths? Cambridge’s emergent cell and gene therapy sector offers some answers:
- New discoveries and technologies that tackle the biggest global problems offer significant opportunities for economic growth and societal progress – leveraging the mission-led approach to growth, funding and support for these breakthroughs needs to be agile and responsive to target support to the most pressing problems. Co-location of Government agencies in the Cambridge ecosystem, such as at the University of Cambridge’s new Innovation Hub, could catalyse strategic interactions with investors, entrepreneurs and researchers.
- Harnessing the energy and ideas that emerge when different sectors and specialisms meet – the industrial strategy and corresponding sector plans should recognise cross-sectoral strengths and capitalise on these to move away from siloed and sector-specific interventions.
- The power of collaboration between academia, public and private partners should not be underestimated – supporting these partnerships and enabling public sector organisations like the NHS to embrace innovation and bring their knowledge and expertise in these ground-breaking collaborations is vital to support the growth mission.
From discovering the structure of DNA in the 1950s to today’s pioneering collaborations to better understand the brain through neurotechnology,[10] Cambridge has long been a global leader in breakthrough technologies.
This kind of innovation moves so quickly that it can be hard to predict and plan for. However, looking closely at the features of emerging sectors holds important lessons for future growth. These lessons present an opportunity to build on our strengths, foster the right environment for innovation, and maximise Cambridge’s role in the Growth Mission.
Thank you to the organisations who kindly contributed to this blog.
[1] Prime Minister’s Office. (n.d.). Kickstarting Economic Growth. Available online: https://www.gov.uk/missions/economic-growth
[2] HM Treasury. (2025). Chancellor of the Exchequer Speech at Siemens Healthineers: 29 January 2025. Available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-vows-to-go-further-and-faster-to-kickstart-economic-growth
[3] HM Treasury. (2025). Reeves: I am going further and faster to kick start the economy. Available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/reeves-i-am-going-further-and-faster-to-kick-start-the-economy
[4] Cambridge City Council. (2025). Cambridge leaders publish joint open letter to Government. Available online: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/news/2025/01/09/cambridge-leaders-publish-joint-open-letter-to-government
[5] Department for Business and Trade. (2024). Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy. Available online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/670d394f3b919067bb48310c/invest-2035-the-uks-modern_industrial-strategy.pdf
[6] Vormittag, P., et al. (2018). ‘A guide to manufacturing CAR T cell therapies’. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/40416129/A_guide_to_manufacturing_CAR_T_cell_therapies
[7] Cambridge Network. (2024). New lab to open to make cutting-edge CAR-T cells in Cambridge. Available online: https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/new-lab-open-make-cutting-edge-car-t-cells-cambridge
[8] University of Cambridge Department of Engineering. (2024). Cambridge joins forces with ARIA to fast-track radical new technologies to revolutionise brain health. Available online: https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-joins-forces-aria-fast-track-radical-new-technologies-revolutionise-brain-health
[9] Prime Minister’s Office. (2024). PM International Investment Summit Speech: 14 October 2024. Available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-international-investment-summit-speech-14-october-2024
[10] University of Cambridge Department of Engineering. (2024). Cambridge joins forces with ARIA to fast-track radical new technologies to revolutionise brain health. Available online: https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-joins-forces-aria-fast-track-radical-new-technologies-revolutionise-brain-health