Innovate Cambridge and Wellcome Genome Campus have announced a new Strategic Partnership – coming together to further the connection between one of Cambridge’s leading science and technology communities and the wider Cambridge innovation ecosystem. 

The partners will work together to strengthen Greater Cambridge’s global reputation as a world-leading innovation hub and enhance its ability to start, scale and retain world-class companies, while attracting and retaining top talent and investment.  

In its ecosystem-wide role, Innovate Cambridge will work alongside the Wellcome Genome Campus to harness its capabilities – across omics, bio data, health data, data science, AI-driven biology and autonomous science – to deliver a programme of events and activities. These will contribute to the region’s vibrant ecosystem and help to forge and strengthen ties across the UK and globally.  

With collaboration and engagement at the heart of the partnership, key activities will focus on: 

  • Opportunities to build on Cambridge’s unique strengths in deep tech, semiconductors, life sciences, AI and quantum technologies, by connecting the Campus’s capabilities in omics, bio data, health data, data science, AI-driven biology and autonomous science.  
  • Dedicated events for the entrepreneur and innovation community to accelerate growth, such as a Founders dinner and retreat at Hinxton Hall, the Campus’ flagship conferencing centre.  
  • Leveraging the Campus’s expertise in biodata and AI to support the wider Cambridge innovation community, helping researchers, entrepreneurs and businesses benefit from emerging technologies and new opportunities. 
  • Advancing the Cambridge x Manchester Partnership with events and skills session on biodata and AI, to support collaboration and accelerate growth across the Campus and both regions.   

The partnership comes at a significant time for Wellcome Genome Campus as it expands over the next decade. The Hinxton-based Campus is growing from 125 acres to 440 acres, creating space for around 250 companies of all sizes, and at least 9,000 people. The first phase of new development will complete in 2027 and 2028, and will include laboratories, incubator and accelerator facilities, new homes, a health and fitness club, two bridges, an Energy Farm and other infrastructure.   

The Campus is already home to Wellcome Sanger Institute, EMBL-EBI, the Health Data Research Service and most recently welcomed BioLabs, who are operating the new incubator and accelerator facilities. Currently operating from a temporary location on Campus, BioLabs will move into ‘The Sequence’ – the first new laboratories and workspace – when it completes in Q4 2027. 

The partnership will be brought to life at the Innovate Cambridge Summit on Wednesday 21 October, where more than 600 leaders from across the Cambridge and UK Innovation ecosystem will come together to explore the future of Cambridge’s innovation economy. Dr Nicole Mather, Chair of the Wellcome Genome Campus Science and Technology Advisory Group, will be speaking on the application of quantum computing in the life sciences, joining a panel discussion on Cambridge’s role in powering UK growth in this area. 

Kathryn Chapman, CEO of Innovate Cambridge, said: 

“For both organisations, the partnership creates a stronger platform for collaboration and engagement across Cambridge – combining Innovate Cambridge’s ecosystem-wide role and networks with the scientific expertise, community and infrastructure of the Wellcome Genome Campus. For Innovate Cambridge, the partnership strengthens connections with a major part of Cambridge’s science and technology community and brings new expertise and opportunities into its work to support companies to start, scale and stay.” 

Robert Evans, Chief Executive of Wellcome Genome Campus, said:  

“We are delighted to become a Strategic Partner of Innovate Cambridge, at this exciting time. This collaboration will strengthen existing connections and create new opportunities to contribute to the Cambridge innovation ecosystem, benefiting both our Campus and the wider economy.    

“The Wellcome Genome Campus is a unique place, combining research, translation, conferencing and wider convening. With globally significant capabilities across omics, biodata, health data, data science, AI-driven biology and autonomous science, our institutions and occupiers are well placed to help unlock innovation across the wider ecosystem. 

“As we embark on the next phase of growth for the Campus, this partnership with Innovate Cambridge will help us position the Campus and its capabilities and ensure we play our full part in turning world-class research into real-world impact. We’re excited to launch our programme together and look forward to fostering collaboration, supporting new ventures and driving growth, at the Campus and across Greater Cambridge.”  

 

 

 About the Wellcome Genome Campus  

The Wellcome Genome Campus, nestled in the peaceful countryside just south of Cambridge, is a world-leading centre for research in genomics, biodata, health data and data science. It is home to a growing community of world-leading institutes, innovative companies and scientific talent. Some 2,200 brilliant minds work on Campus across genomics, biodata, health data and data science, in academic institutes and commercial companies, harnessing machine learning and AI to discover new science and accelerate its translation into real world solutions to improve lives for everyone: 

  • The Wellcome Sanger Institute: Celebrated for pioneering sequencing, the Wellcome Sanger Institute spearheads bold projects in human, pathogen and cellular evolution, the phenotypic and biological consequences of genome variation and the processes that create them. The Institute conducts research of a design and scale that few can achieve and shapes global research policies. 
  • EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI): EMBL-EBI manages the world’s most comprehensive public biomolecular databases. It is the bedrock of global open-access biological data and the global capital for computational biology. 
  • The Health Data Research Service (HDRS) has joined the Campus this summer. It adds new, flagship national data infrastructure. HDRS bridges the gap to actionable clinical medicine, turning the campus into an ecosystem where a genetic discovery can be cross-referenced against nationwide patient outcomes. 

Other existing occupiers include Genomics England, lllumina, SciBite and Sanger Institute spin-outs including Mosaic Therapeutics and Cosmic.  

The Campus is now growing from 125 to 440 acres as it embarks on a major expansion, backed by the Wellcome Trust and one of the largest contemporary investments in the UK’s life sciences infrastructure. Approved expansion plans combine new homes, health and fitness, sports, community and hospitality facilities with new research and translation laboratories, commercial and translation facilities including incubator and accelerator spaces and other workplaces. The expansion also includes new data centre compute capacity, new bridges, planting and public realm, new microgrid power and ambient loop heating/cooling infrastructure.  

The plans integrate these new facilities, amenities and services with historic buildings, parklands and wetlands, to support a global destination for innovation, collaboration and commerciality in science and technology.  

The first phase is now underway and will be complete by 2028.