THE FUTURE STARTS HERE The Cambridge Phenomenon Conference Roundup
THIS PUBLICATION HAS BEEN KINDLY SPONSORED BY:
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Conference roundup by Charles Cotton
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uesday, October 5th October 2010 was an incredible day. Between 8.30 in the morning until after 9.00 in the evening, more than 350 people visited ‘The Future Starts Here’ Conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cambridge Phenomenon. The start of the New Year is a good time to reflect on the Conference, what was achieved and the future. This brochure is designed to summarise nearly nine hours of presentations, panel discussions and Q&A and whet your appetite to dip into the comprehensive resources available on the post-Conference website at http://www. conference.cambridgephenomenon.com/
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What we have seen in the last fifty years has been a phenomenon. Let’s ensure this phenomenon continues for the next fifty as well. Sir Leszek Borysiewicz
At the Conference, you networked, blogged and tweeted about your experiences, shared your opinions on camera, participated in the Q&A sessions, voted on numerous topics, selected competition winners, visited the exhibition stands and participated in a day of presentations, panel debates and informal discussions with a stellar cast of speakers, panellists and delegates. This Conference roundup responds to the encouragement we received from many of you to produce a printed distillation of the event. For a comprehensive online record of the day, I encourage you to visit the postConference website where you will find videos and still images of all the keynotes, presentations, panel discussions, Q&As, competition and event summaries. 2 3
Charles Cotton, Founder and Chairman Cambridge Phenomenon Limited Planning for the Conference started a year before the event when I set up Cambridge Phenomenon Limited (CPL) to work on initiatives around the 50th anniversary of the founding of Cambridge Consultants by Tim Eiloart and David Southward in 1960. The Board of CPL – Chris Chapman, Theo Koutroukides, Joelle du Lac, Jeff Solomon, Christopher Saunders , Teri Willey and myself discussed a number of possible initiatives before agreeing that the two that stood out were the Conference itself and a fully illustrated Book. In the months that followed, we signed up Jeanette Walker to manage the Conference, a role in which she excelled, and Third Millenium Information Group (TMI) to work with us on publishing the Book. TMI were the obvious choice to collaborate with following their success with “The University of Cambridge: an 800th Anniversary Portrait”.
The conference idea was enthusiastically embraced by the individuals and companies we approached to participate in the event. And I was delighted that Lord Rees, Master of Trinity College, agreed to host a dinner in his rooms on October 4th for speakers, panellists, principal sponsors and invited dignitaries. The event was designed from the outset to build on the learning and experience accumulated in the cluster over 50 years and highlight future directions. Four themes were selected - IT, Bioscience, Funding and the Future. Underlying these themes were two sub-plots, which are key to the future: exploration of the convergence between IT and Bioscience; and providing as much assistance, advice and inspiration to young entrepreneurs as could be packed into one day. The opening keynote address delivered by the new Vice Chancellor of the
Julie Meyer, Conference MC University of Cambridge, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, reiterated that the cluster is an important and positive part of the University’s future and wholly compatible with the University’s mission to transform society. Subsequent speakers built on this statement across a dizzying array of topics including: biological computing, energy efficiency, augmented reality, biomedical sensors, DNA sequencing, stem cells, funding strategies for IT and bioscience companies, the impact of China, and the future of the cluster viewed from multiple vantage points. During the day, we also asked delegates for their opinions and these are summarised in the Conference website video resources under four headings: 1) What makes Cambridge special? 2) Advice for entrepreneurs. 3) Convergence.. 4) A day in the life of the Cambridge Phenomenon. In concluding his presentation, the Vice Chancellor said, “What we have seen in the last fifty years has been a phenomenon. Let’s ensure this phenomenon continues for the next fifty as well.” Words with which I am sure we all concur. Will there be another Cambridge Phenomenon Conference? If so, how long will we have to wait? Based on Sir Leszek’s encouragement, the answer to the first questions must be Yes. I am discussing with the board of CPL and a number of advisers what the frequency
should be, but early indications are every three to five years to provide sufficient time for change to become apparent. I hope you will show your continuing commitment to the success of the Cambridge Phenomenon by participating in the Book project either as an individual or on behalf of your organisation, for which details are included on the back cover. None of this would have been possible without the inspiration, hard work and generosity of many people and organisations. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank the sponsors; chairs of the sessions; speakers; panellists; competition judges and entrants; the digital creative design, music, A/V, video production and PR teams; researchers; the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre and Hauser Forum staff; CUTEC; Cambridge Enterprise; The Cambridge Network; First Nucleus; and Cambridge Wireless. Special thanks go to the Conference MC, Julie Meyer; Conference Manager Jeanette Walker; the Board of Cambridge Phenomenon Ltd; and Nash Matthews for kindly agreeing to sponsor this brochure.
Dinner guests of Lord Rees, Master of Trinity College 3 2
Nash Matthews 90 – 92 Regent Street Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB2 1DP T: +44 (0)1223 355477 F: +44 (0)1223 324353 E: mail@nashmatthews.co.uk www.nashmatthews.co.uk
Our combination of practical, clear advice with a personal service has proven successful since 1972, when we were established under the name Keith W. Nash & Co. as the first IP firm in Cambridge. We are proud to have worked since then with many of the companies forming part of the Cambridge Phenomenon. Whether you are an individual, an SME or a corporate entity interested in UK, European or global protection, we can help to secure your ideas and provide the advice you need.
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Cambridge company at the leading edge of 3D graphics At Nash Matthews patent and trade mark attorneys, we are proud to have assisted many Cambridge-originating businesses over the years in protecting their inventions and brands. We continue to work with exciting and innovative companies and one flourishing example is the computer graphics firm ArtVPS.
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rtVPS is a Cambridge company which has already established a track record of bringing photo-realistic 3D computer graphics to new markets. Founded in 2002 and born out of a Cambridge University research project, the company developed the AR250, the world’s first custom processor designed exclusively to accelerate the rendering of true to life images from 3D data. The AR250, and the subsequent AR350 and AR500 processors, intelligently combined with custom plug-in software, formed the basis of a series of products including the very successful RenderDrive® which offered the ability to take a computer model and generate imagery that was indistinguishable from a photograph. Unique patented ray-tracing techniques offered the highest quality rendering using features such as real-world lighting, accurate materials, and unique camera effects. ArtVPS hardware became the first choice for visualising 3D images in the automotive, architecture, product design and entertainment industries at a time when ray-tracing with conventional processors was time consuming and impractical. The financial benefits and time savings were also realised in photography and post-production where 3D visualisation was being increasingly used to generate marketing imagery. By building on the company’s existing IP and continuing its tradition of original research, ArtVPS recently launched raytracing software that fully exploits the increased capabilities of today’s processor technology. That software is ArtVPS’s revolutionary flagship rendering technology, Shaderlight®.
In common with its hardware based predecessor, Shaderlight is a physically-based ray-tracer that enables designers engineers, architects and anyone interested in computer generated 3D to create photo-real images. But Shaderlight goes beyond conventional rendering software and puts the emphasis on creating high quality images with minimum fuss, pushing the boundaries of 3D visualization with interactive rendering techniques that allow users to see their image develop on screen as they continue to work. Shaderlight is available as a plug-in for professional class tools from Autodesk and now for Google’s popular and fun SketchUp 3D modelling tool . Shaderlight is set to not only transform the visualisation workflow of 3D artists and designers within conventional markets of product design, architecture, engineering, media and education, but it is also poised to grow out into consumer markets. The popularity of 3D tools continues to grow and is now attracting mainstream ‘hobby’ users through applications such as Google Earth, with millions of users worldwide. To ensure they are best placed to exploit this and future market opportunities, ArtVPS continue to develop Shaderlight through both feature set and architecture so that it continues to remain one step ahead of the competition. Images (clockwise from top left): AR500 custom raytracing processor; Subaru Impreza concept car, rendered from original engineering data with ArtVPS RenderDrive; Bedroom interior, rendered with Shaderlight; Shaderlight brings photo-realism to Google SketchUp 5 4
Quotes from the speakers and panellists Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, University of Cambridge “We have brains, the means and the ideas to do it. And we should have the ambition too. If the answers to these questions don’t come from here. Then I’ll challenge you to say, ‘where will they come from?’”
Lord Alex Broers, House of Lords “Most important though is that I hope that the trend we have seen in recent years of our exciting small and medium sized companies growing into large world leading companies continues.”
David Cleevely, University of Cambridge “There is a huge potential in biotech combined with information technology. The amount of data and information that’s buried inside living systems is so enormous and the potential we can unlock is so great.”
Deborah Cadman, EEDA “A successful Cambridge, I think, is absolutely critical to the success of UK PLC. If the Cambridge cluster did not exist the UK would have to find £57 billion pounds in replacement GDP.”
Sherry Coutu, Director, CEO, Entrepreneur & Investor “We’ve got a really good backdrop now for thinking about what we need to do to define success, and to fund it and to make sure that the next fifty years of the Phenomenon can be built upon and surpassed.”
Clive Dix, Crescendo Biologics “We have to force the medical profession to think differently, because they’re not taught to think about patients from an evidence base, they’re taught to think about patients from a symptoms base.”
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Warren East, ARM Holdings “ARM has a sharing business model where risks and rewards are shared and ARM’s destiny is inextricably linked with those of ARM’s partners.”
Sir Christopher Evans, Excalibur Group “If you want a way to get money into biotech I’m afraid the government is going to have to step in with cash, and with incentives… Get rid of capital gains tax, get rid of it for bioscience companies.”
Gareth Goodier, Camb Uni Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust “I would like to give you an update on the Cambridge biomedical campus. In the next period of time, there will be something in excess of £1 billion of capital investment on the campus.”
Anil Hansjee, Google EMEA “We have such a nascent ecosystem that we require and rely on this earlier sell out to generate the expertise in management and capital to do it again and again.”
Hermann Hauser, Amadeus Capital Partners “When Alec Broers first started the very close relationship between the University and the business community after 750 years of benign neglect.....”
Andrew Herbert, Microsoft Research “Why don’t we try and arrive at structures that build themselves rather than trying to cut and paste them together? What we’d like is molecular self-assembly. ...... We do have such a substance in nature - DNA.”
Alan Hughes, Judge Business School
Dave Roux, SilverLake Partners “What is shocking is how little work a company does to find out about the investor.”
“Are we at a wake rather than a celebration?”
Will Hutton, The Work Foundation
Richard Seabrook, The Wellcome Trust “The future [of healthcare] really is about managing health and well-being outside of the hospital and outside of the healthcare system which brings this convergence of technologies”
[talking about the UK economy] “For people who think the period up to 2007 is repeatable - it ‘aint. It was a very special and odd time.”
Rob Koepp, Consultant, Financier & Author
Jean Tardy-Joubert, Qatalyst Partners “The good news is that the technology space continues to grow from a capital market point of view quite enormously.”
“What could Cambridge do to to take advantage of the opportunities that China affords? A Cambridge campus in China? Maybe that’s not too radical.”
Chris Lowe, University of Cambridge
Andrew Townsend, Institute for the Future “Our oldest university in the United States, Harvard, is responding to a tremendous public expectation that it deliver economic results.”
“....all of this requires monitoring of the human being both in health and in welfare. This involves what I call chemical intelligence.
Mike Lynch, Autonomy Corporation Plc
John West, ViaCyte “[on stem cells] Products can be developed out of this technology… What’s really needed is commercial success because once we have this there will be the revenue to drive the funding of the rest of the field.“
“Augmented reality - this is about the fusing together of the virtual and all the information we have with the physical… it’s about being out there and the computer bringing its understanding of the world to us.”
Andy Richards, Serial biotech entrepreneur & angel
Teri Willey
“In Biotech, largely we sell companies, we don’t sell products.”
“If you are looking at intellectual property as someone who is thinking about commercialising their idea, think about whether you need it to attract investment… are you creating an incentive for investment?”
Watch conference videos, check out photos and download slides and documents at: www.cambridgephenomenon.com/conference 7 6
Presentation summaries
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n her opening comments, Conference MC Julie Meyer of Ariadne Capital explained that Cambridge has become a brand synonymous with a quest for excellence and discovering the future. Opening Keynote Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge made his first conference appearance in his new role and set out the need for innovation to meet some of the world’s most pressing problems over the next 50 years. He suggested that solutions to these problems would be multi- and cross-disciplinary and that the University has been scaling up its research activity to meet these challenges. Information Technology Hermann Hauser of Amadeus Capital Partners introduced the IT session and said that the arrival of a new Vice Chancellor was always an anxious time for Cambridge but that what Sir Leszek had to say bodes well for the future. Dr Andrew Herbert, Managing Director of Microsoft Research painted a compelling picture of the convergence between IT and Bioscience with an overview of some ground-breaking research which demonstrated that biological cells could fulfill the same function as transistors at dramatically smaller scale than 8 9
is possible in silicon. He went on to explain how this technology could be leveraged and showed the audience a fascinating glimpse of the future. The future of IT was further illustrated by ARM Holdings CEO, Warren East. The company celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2010 by shipping its 20 billionth microprocessor core. He spoke of a personal digital world in which we will move away from computers, phones and other computing devices to a world where technology will be the people’s slave and the form factor of the device will no longer matter. He explained that our digital world will
move around with us seamlessly without us having to get involved. He also discussed the importance of finding and integrating new ways to generate power but warned that in the UK, we seem to be woefully inadequate in our understanding of these technologies and how to deliver them to everyday consumers. Mike Lynch, CEO of $6 billion software company, Autonomy, explained that their software enables the computer to understand what something means. This is important in a world where 80% of the information is unstructured and undefined and the objective is to understand mean-
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz
ing. He also wowed the audience by illustrating the future of mobile computing and interactive search with some entertaining video content. Biosicence Clive Dix introduced the panel. The first speaker was Biotech addict, serial founder and investor in Cambridge life-science companies, Andy Richards. He opened the Bioscience session by setting out some of the successes and challenges facing the 350 life science companies in the Cambridge Cluster. Citing Crescendo, Solexa and Chimera as models of success he proclaimed that, “the science is exciting and the markets are huge.” Professor Chris Lowe from the University of Cambridge continued the theme of a converging future by providing the delegates with an insight into technology that will allow us to monitor the human biosphere. He explained how biosensors can convert readings into electrical signals which are transmitted to instrumentation that can be interpreted by software for diagnosis and suggested treatments. John West of ViaCyte wrapped up the Bioscience presentations by recalling some of his experiences as CEO of University spin-out and sequencing pioneer Solexa. He also questioned the fairness of a personalised healthcare system that would generate wide disparities in opportunity across different areas of society. Pre-Lunch Keynote In typical energetic and knowledgeable style, Will Hutton’s keynote presentation dealt with multiple issues. Does the UK have an ecosystem for innovation? He used the rise of banking as an example of unproductive entrepreneurship which became seriously risky and explained how open systems trump closed systems. He also painted an insightful picture of the separation between the entrepreneurial and banking communities. Talking about the economy, he explained that “for people who think the period up to 2007 is repeatable - it ‘aint. It was a very special and odd time.” Funding Sherry Coutu introduced the panel and opened the session with a video pres-
Will Hutton, Executive Vice-Chair of the Work Foundation entation by Britain’s legendary biotech entrepreneur, Sir Christopher Evans. He explained his desire to see the UK in pole position on the global bioscience grid and explained that the government had to step in to help with both cash and incentives. Chief Executive of EEDA, Deborah Cadman, spoke about the successful companies that EEDA has supported and explored whether there was a role for government in supporting the Cambridge cluster, and what form that should take. Jean Tardy-Joubert of Catalyst Partners outlined his thoughts on what would drive technology companies over the next few years. He concluded by predicting that IPOs would look less attractive than M&A for companies. David Roux of Silverlake Partners wrapped up the Funding session by emphasising that creating the right kind of environment will encourage capital to flow to the right opportunities coming out of Cambridge. He went on to express the view that, “Although we are over the recession, the western economy is only growing slowly and consumers, most businesses, certainly the financial sectors and now increasingly the government sectors of the economy, are all de-leveraging.” The Future David Cleevely opened the final session of the day, The Future, by introducing his panel. The first speaker was the
Cambridge Judge Business School’s, Alan Hughes. He discussed the notion of an innovation system and what that might mean for the future of the Cambridge cluster. He also discussed general-purpose technologies and how the University might address transformational issues over the coming years. Cluster-specialist Rob Koepp flew in from China to explore the similarities of the Cambridge cluster to clusters in the
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The only platform for future growth is funding and innovation. Will Hutton World’s fastest growing economy and set out some emerging opportunities for collaboration. Gareth Goodier, CEO of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation, explained the development plans for Addenbrookes Hospital including the new Cambridge bio-medical campus. As well as showing the audience some impressive videos of what the campus would be like, he illustrated how the infrastructure was being improved around the hospital to cope with the more than 17,000 people that would ultimately be working on the site. 9 8
on financial services. The panel also commented on the importance of spin-outs from their organizations and believed that this could receive more encouragement. – cell division is a successful growth approach. The shortage of technical marketing was viewed as a current issue which would be self-solving over time as more companies of the scale of ARM and Autonomy emerged and attracted people with the requisite skills which would raise the standard of this discipline.
From left: Hermann Hauser, Andrew Herbert, Warren East and Mike Lynch Anthony Townsend from New York’s Institute for the Future explored the shape of future knowledge ecosystems and how technology was changing our notion of clusters by leveraging communication to reduce the impact of geographic boundaries. Anthony also set out his vision for the next 20 years of technology-led economic development. Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and member of the House of Lords, Alec Broers, concluded the day’s presentations. Talking about the need for investment to catalyse the formation of successful companies, he observed,
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We need more large centres that bring academic research and industry together
Information Technology Panel Chaired by Hermann Hauser with panellists Andrew Herbert, Warren East and Mike Lynch The panel highlighted the availability of high quality and well-networked people in Cambridge as important factors in their corporate success. The challenges quoted include infrastructure – housing costs, access to Heathrow, the weaker pound and impending tax increases which made the UK and Cambridge less attractive locations. There was discussion as to whether the UK is exploiting the country’s most important natural resource - the calibre of its graduates. From the UK’s perspective this question has been brought into sharp relief by the financial crisis and the need to re-balance the economy and not focus
Bioscience Panel Chaired by Clive Dix with panellists Andy Richards, Chris Lowe, John West and Richard Seabrook Richard Seabrook opened the session by questioning the sustainability of hospitalbased healthcare systems. He drew attention to the $2.3 Trillion cost of the US system which despite this investment, is only ranked 70th in the world. In his view health and well-being should be managed outside the hospital system and careful attention should be paid to what is happening in developing countries without a legacy healthcare system and how they are employing modern technology. In answer to another question, medical regulation was recognized as a major concern for politicians. The challenge is to balance the benefits and risks of taking action against taking no action. Another question concerned the implications of genome sequencing in terms of insurance, employment and relationships.
Lord Broers “We need more large centres that bring academic research and industry together… we’re going to really do that in medical research in a big way. And I think that is absolutely splendid.” He concluded with a positive view of the future, “Most important though is that I hope the trend we have seen in recent years of our exciting small and medium sized companies growing into large world leading companies continues. The Cambridge Phenomenon can be built upon and surpassed.” 10 11
From left: Clive Dix, John West, Andy Richards, Chris Lowe, and Richard Seabrook
Views from the panel included concerns about discrimination and the potential for ‘practical positives’ where given the knowledge, steps can be taken which can be life-improving. As to the most interesting technology it is worth noting that the largest gene sequencing facility is in Shenzhen demonstrating the interest that is being shown in China. Funding Panel Chaired by Sherry Coutu with panellists Deborah Cadman, Jean Tardy-Joubert, Dave Roux, Anil Hansjee and Teri Willey Sherry Coutu opened the Q&A session quoting Will Hutton, “the only platform for future growth is funding and innovation.” The panel observed that an ecosystem like Cambridge’s relied on companies that sell out early to recycle the entrepreneurs who do it over again, gain experience and increase their chances of hitting the ‘big one’. Following the demise of RDAs it was recognized that this would not be replicated by future LEPs. Although there are fewer venture firms, some of them still support seed investing. In addition, angels and super-angels are filling some of the early-stage funding gap. These days, it is possible for software and internet companies to get on the first rung of the ladder at lower investment and faster but to scale these businesses still requires venture capital and follow-on investment for sales, marketing and brand building. Comment was also made that founders tend to over rate the value of a
From left: Sherry Coutu, Teri Willey, Deborah Cadman, Dave Roux, Anil Hansjee and Jean Tardy-Joubert raw idea and lose sight of the fact that to build a successful company requires investment and tens of people with a range of skills and expefriences. Having said that, some of the most exciting and innovative businesses come from the ‘wild ducks’ who make the great leaps. The Future Panel Chaired by David Cleevely with panellists Alan Hughes, Rob Koepp, Gareth Goodier, Anthony Townsend and Lord Broers David Cleevely opened the session. The opportunity for Cambridge to be the home of a policy research cluster combining private sector, academia and government was discussed with the conclusion that
From left: David Cleevely, Alan Hughes, Rob Koepp, Anthony Townsend, Gareth Goodier and Lord Broers
Cambridge was well-placed to be the best evidence based region in Europe. This led to consideration of the critical components of a cluster and the observation that there is no standard recipe. Successful clusters are varied, organic systems that are rooted in the set of industries that already exist, interconnections, markets and agencies. Trying to link clusters and regional policy was regarded as fatal. There was discussion of the lack of a significant manufacturing base in Cambridge. Looking at the entire value chain, it might be concluded that Cambridge is better suited to knowledge intensive industries and that R&D research fits well. Taking a positive approach to China was regarded as a mutually attractive step for the UK generally and Cambridge in particular. This thinking led to discussion of the role that Addenbrookes is playing in management training with China and the opportunity for management training to be an area for further development. The panel considered the question of how big Cambridge should grow. A geographically distributed solution giving detailed consideration to growth with a minimum of new buildings made sense. In this regard, while Addenbrookes will power growth in the future it is doing so on a hub and spoke model with concentration of facilities only where there is clear benefit. In conclusion, David Cleevely observed that there is an opportunity for Cambridge to show leadership for which it will need to be more structured to realise its full potential. 11 10
The conference in numbers
356 100 The number of delegates who attended the conference
024
Companies nominated for the IT and Bioscience awards
004
The number of world-class speakers and panellists
Hard-hitting sessions: IT, Bioscience, Funding and the Future
Audience participation What is your role in the Cambridge Phenomenon?
Which age group do you belong to? Under 20 20-29 30-45 46-59 60-70 80
0.5% 6.8% 40.5% 39.5% 11.6%
Successful entrepreneur Aspirational entrepreneur Provider of finance Provider of other services
0.5% 6.8% 40.5% 39.5%
None of the above
10.4%
1.1%
The greatest threat to the success of tech companies in Cambridge is?
How do you feel about the future of the Cambridge Phenomenon
Talent acquisition Lack of funding Lack of infrastructure Competition
Very optimistic Cautiously optimistic Cautiously negative Very negative
36.0% 32.6% 23.6% 7.9%
30.8% 61.0% 6.2% 1.4%
None of the above
0.7%
Post-conference survey snapshot
81% 82% 79% 91% of delegates surveyed said that the overall agenda of the conference was excellent
of delegates surveyed said that we should repeat the Cambridge Phenomenon Conference
of delegates surveyed rated the speaker presentations as excellent
of delegates surveyed rated the quality of the keynote speakers as excellent
Please give us your feedback at http://surveymonkey.com/s/cambridgephenomenon. Every survey entry will be entered into a draw to win a copy of our forthcoming, fullyillustrated hardback book, The Cambridge Phenomenon 12 13
The Cambridge Phenomenon Award In partnership with Microsoft Research Cambridge, ARM and Price Bailey, we ran a competition to identify the most exciting companies of the future in IT and Bioscience.
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panel of expert judges with backgrounds in investment, multi-national corporations and government was appointed which identified a short–list of eight from over 100 nominated companies. The short–listed companies were invited to enter the competition. As part of the process, we arranged for the CEOs of each participating company to make a high-impact 60–second film explaining why they should win the title. To be eligible, the shortlisted companies had to be located within a 20–mile radius of Cambridge, in private ownership, operate in the IT or Bioscience sector, and have been in business for a minimum of two years. The finalistsin the Bioscience category were leading fragment-based drug discovery company Astex Therapeutics, epigenetics anti-cancer drug discovery firm Cellcentric, ageing-related disease treatment and diagnosis specialists Senexis, and drug discovery and diagnostic tool developer Horizon Discovery. The finalists in the IT category were real-time location systems experts Ubisense, online games developer and publisher Jagex Games Studio, flexible plastic substrates company Plastic Logic, and on-chip chemical detection systems company Owlstone Nanotech. With such a range of different products, technologies and target markets the competition was always going to be close. On the day of the conference, Tony Illsley of Plastic Logic was the first to face the audience. He positioned Plastic Logic as the leader in plastic electronics and spoke about the massive market for applications using their patented plastic semiconductor technology. Next up was
Billy Boyle of Owlstone Nanotech and Darren Disley of Horizon Discovery are presented with the Cambridge Phenomenon Award for IT and Bioscience respectively by David Southward Richard Green of Ubisense who highlighted that they had received more inward investment than any other UK company and cited Boeing, Shell and Aston Martin amongst their 500 customers. Darrin Disley of Horizon Discovery opened proceedings for the Bioscience category with a summary of their unique technology that dramatically speeds up discovery of new anti-cancer drugs. Harren Jhoti of Astex Therapeutics explained how their drugs make a difference with an impassioned recollection of a terminally ill patient whose life was extended by 12 months by AT drugs. Youngest of the competitors Billy Boyle was next up representing Owlstone Nanotech. In a measured pitch he outlined the company’s success so far and their vision for the future. Mark Gerhard of Jagex Games Studios wrapped up the IT category by explaining that the company is on track to become the Google of the games world while remaining true to the values that the company was founded on. Bioscience competitor number three was Will West of CellCentric who ex-
plained that in just five years the concept of epigenetics went from doubt to being fundamental in defining why cells behave differently, even with the same DNA. Wrapping up the pitches was Mark Treherne of Senexis who outlined the important work the company was undertaking in the treatment and prevention of ageing-related diseases such as alzheimers. Conference delegates were invited to vote on which company in each category they thought would have the most future success. Using electronic keypads the results were displayed on the main auditorium screen in real-time. The standings were as follows. In IT, Ubisense came in with 14.8%, Jagex Games Studio with 22.1%, Plastic Logic with 28.2% and Owlstone Nanotech scooping the award with 34.9% of the votes. In Bioscience Astex Therapeutics came in with 15.9%, Cellcentric with 23.4%, Senexis with 25.5% and Horizon Discovery winning overall with 35.2% of the popular vote. Thanks to everyone who took part in this exciting competition and good luck to all the competitors for the future. 13 12
Cambridge Phenomenon Ltd in association with Third Millenium Information Ltd is pleased to announce a fully illustrated book celebrating 50 years of innovation and entrepreneurship in and around Cambridge
Pre-order your copy today to save on the retail price. Don’t miss out on being part of the record of Cambridge’s success – check out the individual and corporate sponsorship opportunities. 14 15
Dear colleague, We hope you will join us in supporting a very exciting project to publish a fully-illustrated book celebrating 50 years of innovation and entrepreneurship in and around Cambridge.
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he Cambridge Phenomenon will document the history of the businesses and personalities that have put Cambridge at the centre of one of Europe’s most enterprising technology and biotech clusters.
Led by entrepreneur Charles Cotton, the Advisory Board for the book includes many of Cambridge’s best known business leaders, entrepreneurs and academics (the Advisory Board members are shown at http://www. cambridgephenomenon.com/initiatives/book). The text will be engaging and informative, full of intriguing facts and anecdotes about one of the world’s leading high-technology business clusters and its personalities. It will also be lavishly illustrated with over 200 images from company and individual archives and specially commissioned photographs. The end result will be a book you’ll treasure, and an ideal gift for your work colleagues and customers.
Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor University of Cambridge
The Cambridge Phenomenon will be published in September 2011, in association with Third Millennium Information Ltd, publishers of the highly successful The University of Cambridge: an 800th Anniversary Portrait. We invite you to be part of this enduring record of what you and others have created, and are asking for your support in two ways. Firstly, by contributing anecdotes and photographs to help build a complete picture of the cluster. Secondly, by ordering copies in advance and taking advantage of one of the offers to make sure your support is acknowledged.
Hermann Hauser Amadeus Capital Partners
We very much hope you will join us in supporting this project to create a comprehensive and lasting history of the first 50 years of the Cambridge Phenomenon and to celebrate the organisations and people who have contributed to its spectacular growth and success. Sincerely, Andy Richards Director Vectura, Altacor, Novacta, Arecor, Ixico, Cancer Research Technologies
Pre-orders and more information at www.tmiltd.com 15 14
THIS PUBLICATION HAS BEEN KINDLY SPONSORED BY: