History

The early years | 1970-1980 | 1980-1990 | 1990-2000 | 21st century

The 1990s saw many changes in the Cambridge hi-tech and science park scene. The cluster of hi-tech companies in the Cambridge area grew to some 1200 companies employing around 35,000 people and demand for space increased. Incubators for start-ups were established elsewhere in Cambridge and the supply of venture capital in the UK and from locally established venture funds had increased dramatically.

Fast growing internet and telecoms-related companies and the growth and success of a number of companies which had been at the Park for some years, altered the pattern of space occupation. However towards the end of the 1990s the life sciences sector started to grow and become the dominant technology sector on the Park.

There were now fewer but larger, better funded and more successful companies at the park and more of them were launched onto the UK Stock Exchange. A biotech venture capital fund, Merlin Ventures, opened an office on the Park. However, the origins of companies arriving were much the same as in the past: a mixture of spin-outs, developing new ventures from the Cambridge area and elsewhere in the UK, and UK subsidiaries of multinational companies. By December 1999, there were 64 companies at the Park employing some 4,000 people.

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