Case Studes in Entrepreneurship, Family Businesses, Social Entrepreneurship

Code :ENT0009

Year :2004

Industry : General Business

Region : UK

Teaching Note:Not Available

Structured Assignment :Not Available

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Introduction: The University of Cambridge is one of the oldest and most renowned universities in the world. It has a long list of illustrious alumni from Isaac Newton to the cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking. It is also the driving force for the development of a hi-tech industry cluster in and around the area surrounding the city of Cambridge in the South East of the United Kingdom, also known as Silicon Fen. Silicon Fen has been touted as theUK’s answer to the Silicon Valley. NewsweekMagazine listed it as one of the top ten rivals to Silicon Valley.Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) a giant in Bluetooth Technology, ARM, a chip designer, Autonomy, thatmakes information-management software, Acorn Computers Ltd., and Sinclair Research are some of the success stories of Silicon Fen . In 2000, it had 1,550 hi-tech firms under its umbrella.

According to the report by the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership (GCP) Silicon Fen has emerged as a home to 3,500 firms with 55,000 staff by 20033. Silicon Fen contributed £7.6 billion4 GVA (for 2003) to the economy of the United Kingdom. The GDP per capita of the Cambridge area is above the average GDP per capita in the UK and ranks third behind London and the Southeast.5 The growth in the Cambridge region is comparable to that of the prosperous regions of the US6. It has been consistently ranked by the European Commission as ‘excellent for its support for hi-tech start-ups’ and has twice been named ‘Region of Excellence’.

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