Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Alex Smeets, of St John’s Innovation Centre, is bidding to use the recent establishment of a Chinese incubator within St John’s as a lever for similar international ventures.

He is about to visit the Far East to cement relationships that could lead to an unprecedented number of foreign governments setting up Cambridge incubators within St John’s and establishing technology footholds in Europe in the process.

If Smeets and his team successfully sell the Chinese-Cambridge concept globally it will create a unique template for international networking, with the East of England the world exemplar.

Smeets said: “While the China Innovation UK project hit the headlines, a lot of other Far East countries are interested and we have to strike while the iron is hot.

“The plan is that these countries would take similar space for incubators within St John’s. From there, the long-term benefits for international trade collaboration are obvious – and Cambridge and the East of England will be right at the very heart of things.

“Our hi-tech and biotech offerings locally are world renowned. Clearly they are the magnet, as well as a general desire by foreign governments to establish bases in a European centre genuinely at the cutting edge of technology.”

Smeets’ business development team at St John’s is also talking to international governments about building St John’s-style innovation centres in other parts of the world.

St John’s has established START International, which is building, managing and offering mentoring services to innovation hubs across the UK, initially. Farheam on the South Coast is already open, Woolwich in London and Harwell in Oxfordshire are about to come on board and Smeets said: “There is fabulous international potential in replicating our Cambridge success story locally, but we have to walk before we run.

“Once we have rolled out these centres across the UK we will work on establishing them abroad, which will bring Cambridge further kudos.”

Chinese trade and academic links with the East of England continue to snowball and four University delegations are due to visit Cambridge and Luton before the end of the year.

They include a party from the Renmin University of Beijing in November, while a specialist group of economics professors from Xiamen visit Cambridge in December.

A different range of interests will be served when a delegation of scientists, business executives and local government officials from Yunnan Province will visit Cambridge to undertake focused discussions on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Professor Alan Barrell, who has been instrumental in this international brokering, said: “It is great to see inward investment planned for the region by Chinese companies, and also encouraging that many regional firms now sell and manufacture in China.

“But we should not overlook the revenue earned for our Universities when Chinese students come here to study. China is building numbers of new and bigger Universities to meet the exploding demand for Higher Education but 55 per cent of all Chinese applicants for University places who are intellectually capable and acceptable cannot find a place because the capacity is not there.

“In the short term, British Universities are seen as the most suitable alternative to cater for the overflow of unplaced students. The University of Luton currently has 1,000 on board and there are around 350 at Cambridge University. Luton University has even set up a dedicated Chinese Centre.”