Greater Cambridge Profile
Overview
The Greater Cambridge area extends across a radius of about 25 miles outwards from the university city of Cambridge. It includes the market towns of Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Saffron Walden, Royston, St Neots, St Ives, Huntingdon, Wisbech and Ely, plus Stansted Airport in the south.
As a predominantly rural area, until the late 1960s the local economy was based around farming and food, with a core of technology and engineering businesses in the city. However, since the 1970s the area has been transformed into a world-leading high-technology cluster that has become widely known as the ‘Cambridge Phenomenon’.
As Greater Cambridge has become an increasingly desirable place to live and work, the population has grown from 420,000 to 750,000 over 35 years. The number of people working in the area has risen from 200,000 to 365,000. The presence of a world-class university, thriving enterprise economy, proximity to London and Stansted Airport, plus an attractive environment, have all combined to create one of the UK’s fastest growing and most dynamic areas.
The technology cluster
The University of Cambridge is ranked first in Europe and second in the world and is renowned for pioneering new ideas and ground-breaking research. Since the 1970s, the spin out of technologies from the university has fuelled a boom in knowledge-based businesses. Cambridge has the highest innovation rate of any city in the UK (Communities and Local Government, State of the English cities) and is recognised by the European Union as a Centre of Excellence for Innovation. The cluster is based largely on the ‘bottom-up’ development of numerous small, innovative technology companies, embedded in a rich and diverse science base that employs around 50,000 people – particularly in the life sciences and high-technology industries.
The impact of the cluster extends across the whole Greater Cambridge area. The nearby towns have strong relationships with the city but they also have distinctive economies of their own and are increasingly developing niche sectors of technology expertise.
The PACEC report ‘The Cambridge Phenomenon, Fulfilling The Potential’ described how the Greater Cambridge area is now recognised globally as a remarkable example of a dynamic knowledge based economy.
Download the report:
‘The Cambridge Phenomenon, Fulfilling The Potential’.
The Greater Cambridge area:
An area of contrasts
Greater Cambridge is an area marked by contrasts. In Cambridge, 800 years of medieval architecture and University of Cambridge tradition sit alongside ultra-modern science and innovation parks where companies such as Microsoft have made their European research base. It’s a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with a constant flow of academics, students, tourists and business visitors from around the world.
Quality of life
Throughout the area, tradition and technology sit side-by-side, creating a distinctive environment that makes it an attractive place to work, live and do business. There are some significant variations across the sub-region and the GCP, along with its partners, is working to address these. But overall, Greater Cambridge has low unemployment; low long-term sickness, good health and a world-class teaching hospital at Addenbrooke’s; low crime rates; little derelict land; and good schooling and education at every level of learning.
For more information on quality of life in Cambridgeshire, please see the 2006 Quality of Life Survey: http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk.
Monitoring
The Greater Cambridge Annual Profile measures progress against a range of indicators, providing an overview of the strength of the economy and the quality of life in the area. Analysis of the indicators helps to highlight the challenges the area is facing, which provides a firm foundation for strategic decision making.
Visit Statistics, Facts and Figures to view a number of indicators that have been extracted from the report to provide a quick overview of the health of the area.
Download the full report:
Greater Cambridge Annual Profile 2007
