Key enablers

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Collaboration and partnerships

Training and skills

Technology

Implementation

People

Linking physical to digital

Creating the conditions for future growth

Human facilitators from across the cluster including: Super-Connectors, Knowledge Transfer Facilitators and existing Knowledge Exchange Networks with an external focus and deep and up-to-date understanding of organisational capabilities from inside and outside of the University.
A talented and diverse pool of mentors with relevant experience and 'pay it back' mentality.
Experts in University technology transfer to advise and support commercialisation. Contracts, finance and IP expertise. Project and facilitation management to enable collaborations to succeed.
Business leaders and industry representatives who are able to articulate the challenges in common language, interpretable across sectors and disciplines.
Community of entrepreneurs and researchers at all levels, from PhD students to key opinion leaders from academia, industry, start-ups and small and medium enterprises.
Top-level academics and business champions, as well as early movers in the health tech space with good case studies to lead by example.
Diversity across research areas including economics, business and manufacturing in addition to life and physical sciences.

Support for the next generation of mentors and entrepreneurs who have recently been in the same position as the new start-ups. What makes a good mentor?
Map, sign-post and increase access to, and awareness of, existing entrepreneurship activities including (but not limited to) those delivered by the organisations and programmes in Box 1 (organisations and programmes).
Regular facilitated training of stakeholders, including those from the research community, in capacity-building and commercialisation. Areas of training include (but are not limited to) those in Box 2 (areas of training).
Research operations and management skills. Establishing frameworks, project delivery strategies, contract negotiation, developing realistic milestones for projects and collaborations.
Build capabilities and skills in recognising the right opportunities, identifying common goals and vision, developing an entrepreneurial mindset.
Establish and use a common language interpretable across sectors and disciplines.

Box 1: Organisations & programmes

Accelerate@Babraham
Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences
Cambridge Enterprise
Cambridge Network
Cambridge Postdoc Academy
Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC)
CamNTF
Entrepreneurial Postdocs of Cambridge
Innovation Forum
Institute for Manufacturing (e.g. i-Teams, Technology Enterprise Group)
Judge Business School (e.g. Entrepreneurship Centre, Ignite, Enterprise Tuesdays, Strategic Business Growth Programme)
Maxwell Centre (Impulse)
Milner Therapeutics Institute
Office for Translational Research
One Nucleus (Virtual Innovation Centre)
Start Codon
The Bradfield Centre

Box 2: Areas of training

Engage, leverage and collaborate across existing networks to amplify individual voices Box 3 (existing networks).
Engage with similar communities more broadly throughout the UK and globally to increase reach.
Create a 'network of networks' so all stakeholders are connected across the Cambridge cluster and beyond.

Box 3: Existing networks

In the Cambridge Cluster:

Necessary requirements for the platform are listed in Box 4 (requirements).
Start with the minimum viable product combined with a systematic approach to structuring a digital platform to enable future scalability (across the region, UK and internationally).
Identify a common problem faced by all (e.g. economic recovery, improving healthspan) to unify efforts on the platform.
Understand community needs and find additional ways to encourage cross-fertilisation across Cambridge and the broader ecosystem.

Box 4: Requirements

Ability to run events
Added value over other platforms (e.g. LinkedIn)
As automated as possible (e.g. algorithms to support matchmaking)
Easy cross-posting and ability to upload content to other systems
Intuitive user interface
Matchmaking capability
On-boarding and novel incentives to use the platform – prizes, likes, ‘pay it back’
Self-sustaining content
Tailored to align with community needs

Increase access and maximise use of shared physical spaces across campuses to create drop-in spaces across disciplines that are available to all. Use existing locations/facilities as much as possible.
Provide incentives for leading figures to use drop-in spaces to create a sense of community.
Enable leading influencers and Super Connectors to move between physical spaces in combination with online presence in digital spaces.
Create a stimulating digital environment to facilitate and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. An informal environment that recreates the feeling of bumping into someone in the same physical space.
Harness the power of multiple people super connecting and matchmaking in one place (remove the bottlenecks).
Ensure effective matchmaking at online digital events in addition to physical networking events to increase the amount of deeper, more productive connections.
Use digital technology to reduce the transaction costs associated with finding the right connections – either reduction of the time needed and/or removing difficulty in finding the right connections.
Collate programme of events all in one place with ability to set up a bespoke calendar.
Deliver scoping exercise to understand current networking events landscape and identify key gaps.
Provide clear sign-posting to relevant funding opportunities for collaborative or entrepreneurial activities when a connection has been established.