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Deep Dive: Cambridge region. Multiple ventures, such as Eagle Genomics,
have been founded by former members of research
groups from local academic organisations. Growing
The Cambridge region is the most successful
ventures can settle in more than eight science parks.
ecosystem for launching and growing bioinformatics
In order to attain guidance and financial capital,
companies in Europe.
new ventures profit from knowledge and local
The region is the fourth most populous in capital that have been reinvested into the ecosystem
the UK, contributing 8.4% of the UK’s Gross from past successes in raising unicorn ventures in
Domestic Product (GDP). Cambridge is one the area. Finally, the ecosystem has an established
of the fastest-growing areas in the UK, both in structure of existing general life science companies
,12
terms of population and economy. The Science (seven publicly traded companies and 345 SMEs) .
& Innovation Audit for the East of England has
Among many ventures in the domain, Cambridge
identified four key technology themes for the region:
Cancer Genomics stands out for its use of open data
Life Sciences, Agricultural Technology, Advanced
to train machine learning models. The venture
Materials and Manufacturing, and Information and
provides precision oncology solutions that detect
Communications Technology. According to the
relapse of patients earlier than the standard, predict
‘2019 Regional Innovation Scoreboard’, the East of
responses to cancer therapy and reduce ineffective
England is an innovation leader, where innovation
treatment regimens. Sano Genetics complements
performance has increased over time. The region
public data infrastructures by providing researchers
outperforms national and international peers in
with access to a platform of high-quality genomic
business sector R&D spending – East of England
and medical data from engaged cohorts consisting
records a performance of 58% above the national
of individuals, patient groups and biobanks. The
average and 44% above the EU average.
genomics research platform has data privacy and
Cambridge has a strong research heritage with transparency at its core, while giving data sponsors
world-class research facilities and capabilities and cohorts the ability to access and manage their
at the University of Cambridge, attracting many own data.
multinational companies and many tech startups.
In addition to the University of Cambridge (23,247 12 Regional Innovation Scoreboard, East of England – Internal Market,
Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs – European Commission. https://
students in 2019 and 7,913 researchers in 2019),
ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-monitor/base-
the ecosystem consists of research institutes with profile/east-england 9 (visited in 2019)
scientific links to bioinformatics and related fields,
including the European Bioinformatics Institute,
the MCR Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cancer
Research UK or the Sanger Institute. Beyond
providing access to scientific infrastructures, these
institutions train numerous academics in the

Cambridge