Innovation is about the application of new ideas, discoveries and inventions. The innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of the members of the University of Cambridge is enshrined in the University’s mission statement to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. The foundation for innovation is the steady supply of excellent ideas, of which there is an abundance at Cambridge. Ingenuity and creativity, alongside the fundamental research which underpins these ideas and combined with the constant exchange of ideas between academics and companies, governments and NGOs has been the recipe for this success.
Various mechanisms are in place to help our academics nurture future innovation. As well as dedicated departmental support structures, Cambridge Enterprise provides technology transfer, consultancy services and seed fund opportunities, and the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) within the Judge Business School provides networking opportunities with peers. In addition, Cambridge-based initiatives physically embedded within the University such as ideaSpace provide hubs for entrepreneurs to develop ideas.
Forty years ago, two researchers at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge developed a new technology that was to win him the Nobel Prize – and is now found in six out of ten of the world’s bestselling drugs. Dr Lara Marks from Department of History and Philosophy of Science discusses the importance of ‘monoclonal antibodies’.
A ‘brain training’ iPad game developed and tested by researchers at the University of Cambridge may improve the memory of patients with schizophrenia, helping them in their daily lives at work and living independently, according to research published today.
An innovative new Consortium will act as a ‘match-making’ service between pharmaceutical companies and researchers in Cambridge with the aim of developing and studying precision medicines for some of the most globally devastating diseases.
A ‘pill on a string’ developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge could help doctors detect oesophageal cancer – cancer of the gullet – at an early stage, helping them overcome the problem of wide variation between biopsies, suggests research published today in the journal Nature Genetics.
New report urges government and designers to work together to break down the barriers to innovation in order to adapt to an ageing population.
Microscope/Micrograph of MEMS Micro-heating element with integrated CMOS electronic driver and temperature sensing circuits
Credit: Cambridge CMOS Sensors
© 2015 University of Cambridge
