Putting the solutions into practice

Supporting economic recovery through the Connect: Health Tech University Enterprise Zone.

The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. For us, this means cultivating and delivering excellent research, world-leading innovation and training of the next generation of highly skilled researchers and entrepreneurs, thereby underpinning the UK's economic growth and competitiveness. The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated the importance of having a prepared and well-resourced research community closely connected with businesses and local and central Government that is able to respond rapidly during crises.

The solutions and recommendations from Connect: Health Tech will support the region's economic recovery post-pandemic and bring cutting-edge research, businesses and innovators together to be better prepared and connected for the future. Connect: Health Tech will also increase access to the Cambridge ecosystem extending reach and helping to level up growth and investment across the East of England and the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. To put these solutions into practice we need:

• Long-term support and investment to establish a thriving online business and enterprise community which will provide greater access and easier navigation for all stakeholders to cutting-edge research and ideas within Cambridge encouraging further inward investment.
• Continued focus and investment to maintain a steady stream of inter-disciplinary projects which can be fast-tracked by accelerators, incubators and other funding mechanisms leading to a rich pipeline of start-ups and SMEs to grow in therapeutics, medtech and digital health.
• Continued and increased support to build and strengthen capabilities and skills in entrepreneurship, mentorship, commercialisation, research operations and management, collaboration and partnerships, including sign-posting and increasing access to existing entrepreneurship activities.