The Innovation Hub aims to boost UK growth by bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, companies, and researchers on a 2.7-acre site at Hills Road, right in the heart of Cambridge. It’s set up as the UK’s version of Boston’s Lab Central and Paris’s Station F. This new centre will help science startups expand and compete globally.
This news came out during the annual Innovate Cambridge Summit where entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and political figures gathered this week. It’s part of a bigger £500 million investment package focused on new homes, infrastructure, and business space across the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor.
It follows a fresh report showing that Cambridge has become the top place to invest in science within the UK and has seen faster growth than any other region outside London over the last ten years.
The report from Beauhurst, Cambridge Enterprise, Innovate Cambridge, and Cambridge Innovation Capital highlights that since 2015 early-stage life sciences and deep tech firms here have raised £7.9 billion. Nearly 40% of all deals now include international investors – way up from just 7% ten years ago.
Cambridge’s innovation scene has nearly doubled over the past decade with active companies jumping from 473 in 2015 to 848 in 2025. University spinouts are driving much of this growth-accounting for almost 28% of all equity raised locally. Investment into spinouts climbed from £46 million back in 2015 to an impressive £879 million last year; life science spinouts alone averaged £8.4 million each in 2024-the highest figure among UK cities.
This success is reflected by homegrown firms like Cell Centric-a clinical-stage biotech working on new cancer treatments; Cusp AI-using AI to discover materials; and Featurespace-a world leader in adaptive behavioral analytics aimed at fighting financial crime.
Science Minister and Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Champion Lord Vallance said: “Cambridge is one of the world’s most fertile grounds for innovation to take root, and blossom into opportunities for investment, job creation, and progress in fields ranging from life sciences to deep tech.
“As impressive as these figures are, there is still more potential here for us to unleash. This is precisely why we are backing the Cambridge Innovation Hub, as part of our programme of work across Government to boost the entire Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor, and fulfil its promise as an economic engine the whole nation benefits from.”
Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor at University of Cambridge added: “Fast-tracking the Innovation Hub will help drive UK growth. It will connect entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, and our world-class researchers. It will quickly become Europe’s leading destination for early-stage deep tech and life sciences companies, and means Cambridge will continue to be a global leader in research and innovation. The world is coming to Cambridge for science. Government support means that work will now start at pace to make the Innovation Hub a reality.”
Professor Andy Neely OBE who chairs Innovate Cambridge said: “Cambridge’s science and innovation ecosystem is one of the UK’s greatest economic assets. The data shows that the world is increasingly looking to Cambridge to find the breakthrough ideas that can change lives and drive global progress.”
Dr Kathryn Chapman from Innovate Cambridge said: “The Summit is a chance to demonstrate how Cambridge continues to lead on innovation worldwide. Recognition as the fastest-growing UK hub for science investment, combined with cornerstone funding for a new international innovation hub, reflects the success of our unified vision and commitment to building a truly global innovation economy.”
This latest report comes after Dealroom data earlier this year showed that per capita venture capital investment into deep tech puts Cambridge first in Europe-and it ranks second globally only behind California’s Bay Area when it comes down to unicorns per capita.
