Agglomeration and Growth

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511802911.007

5 - Agglomeration and Growth

A Study of the Cambridge High-Tech Cluster

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Suma Athreye

Edited by

Timothy Bresnahan and

Alfonso Gambardella

Show author details

Suma Athreye: Affiliation:
The Open University
Timothy Bresnahan: Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Alfonso Gambardella: Affiliation:
Università degli Studi, Pisa

Book contents

Get access

Summary

THE CAMBRIDGE PHENOMENON: IS IT SILICON FEN?

The “Cambridge Phenomenon” was a term coined by the firm of Segal, Quince and Wicksteed (SQW) in 1986 to describe the mushrooming of more than 300 high-technology firms in the Cambridge area, after the Cambridge Science Park received its first occupant in 1976. This number has increased steadily through the 1990s and more than tripled in 1999. By the end of 1999, the number of high-tech establishments had grown to 959 in all, employing more than 31,000 people. In terms of its economic impact on the region, the Cambridge area accounted for 60% of all high-tech establishments and more than 70% of all high-tech employment in Cambridgeshire County.

Cambridge has also developed an array of institutions, university-industry links, and local technology venture capital that has favored and sought to nurture entrepreneurship in science-based industries. In these institutional developments, Cambridge is unique of all the other information technology (IT) clusters that followed in the wake of Silicon Valley's success. No other European region has shown the same scale of entrepreneurial activity in science-based sectors as Cambridge or can boast the emergence of similar institutions without any state intervention. Furthermore, the University of Cambridge has been a key player in these institutional developments. These qualitative features of the growth of Cambridge have prompted several comparisons with Silicon Valley.

Type: Chapter
Information: Building High-Tech Clusters
Silicon Valley and Beyond
, pp. 121 - 159

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802911.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Begg, I. (1991). “High Technology Development and the Urban Areas of Great Britain: Developments in the 1980s.” Urban Studies 28 (6): 961–81CrossRef Google Scholar

Butchart, R. L. (1987). “A New UK Definition of High Technology Industries.” Economic Review 400: 82–8Google Scholar

Cambridgeshire County Council (various years). Industry Sector Studies: The High Tech “Community” in Cambridgeshire. Research Group

CBR (1996). “Territorial Dustering and the Innovative Milieu: Unpublished Executive Summary for Participating Firms.” Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge. Mimeographed

Galbraith, C. S. (1985). “High-Technology Location and Development: The Case of Orange County.” California Management Review 28: 98–109CrossRef Google Scholar

Garnsey, E. (1998). “The Genesis of the High Technology Milieu: A Study in Complexity.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 22 (3): 433–50CrossRef Google Scholar

Garnsey, E., and M. Wilkinson (1994). “Flexible Specialisation on a Global Basis and the Protection of Intellectual Property: A Problematic Case.” In New Technology Based Firms in the 1990s, ed. W. During and R. Oakey. London: Paul Chapman Publishing

Gonzales-Benito, J., S. Reid, and E. Garnsey (1997). “The Cambridge Phenomenon Comes of Age.” Research Papers in Management Studies, WP 22/97. Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge

Haug, P. (1991). “Regional Formation of High Technology Service Industries: The Software Industry in Washington State.” Environment and Planning A 23: 869–84CrossRef Google Scholar

Huggins, R. (2000). “An Index of Competitiveness in the UK: Local Regional and Global Analysis.” Centre for Advanced Studies, Cardiff University. Mimeographed

Keeble, D. (1989). “High-Technology Industry and Regional Development in Britain: The Case of the Cambridge Phenomenon.” Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 7: 153–72CrossRef Google Scholar

Keeble, D., , C. Lawson, , B. Moore, and , F. Wilkinson (1999). “Collective Learning; Processes, Networking and ‘Institutional Thickness’ in the Cambridge; Region.” Regional Studies 33 (4): 319–32CrossRef Google Scholar

Keeble, D., and L. Nachum, (2000). “Foreign and Indigenous Firms in the Media Cluster of Central London.” CBR Working Paper 154, ESRC Centre for Business Research, Cambridge

Lawson, C. (1997). “Territorial Clustering and High Technology Innovation: From Industrial Districts to Innovative Milieux.” Working Paper 54, ESRC Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge

Lawson, C., B. Moore, D. Keeble, H. Lawton-Smith, and F. Wilkinson (1998). “Inter-Firm Links between Regionally Clustered High Technology SMEs: A Comparison of Cambridge and Oxford Innovation Networks.” In New Technology Based Firms in the 1990s, ed. W. During and R. Oakey, 4: 181–96. London: Paul Chapman

Lumme, A., , I. Kauranen, and , E. Autio (1994). “The Growth and Funding Mechanisms of New Technology Based Firms: A Comparative Study between the United Kingdom and Finland.” Finnish Journal of Business Economics 44 (1)Google Scholar

Oakey, R., and , Cooper (1989). “High Technology Industry, Agglomeration and the Potential for Peripherally Sited Small Firms.” Regional Studies 23: 347–60CrossRef Google Scholar

Saxenian, A. (1988). “The Cheshire Cat's Grin: Innovation and Regional Development in England.” Economy and Society 18 (4)Google Scholar

Saxenian J. (1994). Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press

Schwerin, J. (1999). “Between Co-Operation and Competition: Innovation and Growth in Clyde Shipbuilding, c. 1850–1900.” London School of Economics. Mimeographed

Segal, Quince and Wicksteed (1986, 1990). The Cambridge Phenomenon: The Growth of High Technology Industry in a University Town. Segal, Quince and Wicksteed Ltd., Market Street, Cambridge

Segal, Quince and Wicksteed (2000). The Cambridge Phenomenon Revisited. Segal, Quince and Wicksteed Ltd., Market Street, Cambridge