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Key recommendations & ambition
Access to the multi-disciplinary scientific community
#jointhedots
A consultation process with key stakeholders from across the University and wider community resulted in the development of recommendations and a roadmap which defines an over-arching strategic plan to deliver and grow Connect: Health Tech.
- Create and foster connectivity across Cambridge giving all organisations in the cluster access to a wider network of expertise and funding opportunities in health tech;
- Develop and nurture meaningful partnerships which spark collaboration at the interface between medicine and technology, enabling innovation and future growth;
- Put new ways of working into practice to lower the barriers to engagement across Cambridge and, more broadly, improve navigation, fast-track introductions, increase academic/business interaction and efficient transition from idea to impact;
- Leverage new partnerships and funding to generate a pipeline of interdisciplinary projects for new and existing shared facilities and incubation space across Cambridge;
- Work with incubators, accelerators and businesses to catalyse the design, development and testing of data-driven diagnostics and therapies;
- Invest in and resource the culture of the cluster in parallel to the planned investment in buildings, physical space, transport and infrastructure.
These recommendations align with recent research into the important elements that contribute to strong entrepreneurial ecosystems (such as Stam et al 2019*).
* Entrepreneurial ecosystem elements, Erik Stam and Andrew van de Ven 2019.
Our ambition for Connect: Health Tech is to deliver:
- A thriving online business and enterprise community that connects our stakeholders: academic institutions, start-ups, entrepreneurs, science parks, the NHS, member organisations and local government.
- A digital platform fully populated by a community engaged in commercialisation of interdisciplinary ventures, contributing expertise in business development, R&D strategy, industry engagement, start-up acceleration and incubation, fundraising, business scale-up, operations and healthcare translation.
- Seamless and intuitive navigation for stakeholders, increased efficiency in identifying and being introduced to partners leading to deep, productive connections that deliver therapies at the interface between medicine and technology.
- A steady stream of projects which are fast-tracked by accelerators, incubators and other funding mechanisms, measured by a significant rise in funding and investment. A rich pipeline of start-ups and SMEs generated and supported to grow in therapeutics, med tech and digital health.
- Access to Cambridge as a test-bed for novel models of innovation through expansion of the ecosystem and engagement of expertise from further afield.
- A scalable model that can be implemented across the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region, the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and the UK.
- A transferable model that can be applied in other sectors and research areas (e.g. decarbonisation, sustainability).
Creating the conditions for future growth
Creation of a thriving online business and enterprise community with easier navigation.
Productive connections that deliver therapies at the interface between medicine and technology.
Map and sign-post to relevent funding opportunities for collaborative projects.
Steady stream of projects and start-ups fast-tracked by appropriate connections, funding & support.
Significant rise in interdisciplinary research funding and projects initiated.