Cambridge Biomedical Campus could double economic output to £13bn in a decade

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) found that the life sciences and healthcare Campus would contribute £13 billion GVA a year to the UK economy by 2035, and nearly £20bn a year by 2050, if a holistic growth plan put forward by CBC Ltd - which represents the main Campus occupiers - is successfully delivered during that time.

CEBR analysis also shows that the site already contributes £4.7bn GVA a year to UK plc with every £10 the Campus makes generating a further £10 for the UK economy and every 10 jobs created supporting a further 10 jobs around the country.

Currently, 23,000 people work on the Biomedical Campus, making it Cambridge’s largest employment site. That number would double in 10 years if the Spatial Framework proposal put forward for development is fully implemented, paving the way for more global life science companies to locate there, alongside startups and academic and NHS researchers.

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is home to two innovation driven NHS Trusts (Cambridge University Hospitals, who run Addenbrooke’s, and the country’s leading transplant centre, Royal Papworth Hospital), AstraZeneca’s global R &D headquarters, Abcam’s global HQ, the world-renowned MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology which has 12 Nobel Prizes, GSK’s only first-in-human clinical trial facility, as well as the University of Cambridge, with seven research centres of excellence, including the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute.

Innovations developed on the Biomedical Campus have already changed lives around the world. For example, its scientists and clinicians invented monoclonal antibody technology, which is used to make a third of all new global drugs today. They also created the world's first Personalised Breast Cancer Programme, where sequencing every patient’s whole genome can often spare them additional, debilitating treatment that they didn’t need.

Speaking at the UK's Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds, Nick Kirby, Managing Director of Cambridge Biomedical Campus Limited, a non-profit partnership of the health, research, life science and education organisations on the Campus, said: “This is our once-in-a-generation moment to transform the Cambridge Biomedical Campus into a world-leading engine for healthcare innovation and UK economic growth.

“But our vision won’t be realised unless we create a truly holistic environment capable of attracting the very best global companies and talent – complete with transport links, childcare, hotel and conference facilities and vibrant social hubs for collaboration – where academics, clinicians and industry researchers can come together to dream up the next generation of treatments and diagnostics that will transform everyone's health.”