STEM Workshops in Cambridge

Cambridge has been a hub of scientific discovery for centuries, with the University of Cambridge producing breakthroughs from Newton's laws of motion to the discovery of the electron by J.J. Thomson. The Cavendish Laboratory, opened in 1874, became a centre of Nobel Prize-winning physics, where the structure of DNA was famously determined in 1953. This rich tradition of inquiry laid the groundwork for the modern technology cluster known as Silicon Fen, which began to emerge in the 1970s and 1980s as university spin-outs commercialised their research.

The Cambridge scientific tradition includes Isaac Newton, whose work at Trinity College revolutionised mathematics and physics, and Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection transformed biology. Francis Crick and James Watson determined the double-helix structure of DNA at the Cavendish Laboratory, whilst Stephen Hawking spent decades at the university advancing our understanding of black holes and cosmology. More recently, Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Sir David Klenerman developed next-generation DNA sequencing technology at Cambridge, enabling rapid advances in genomics and personalised medicine. Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2014 to 2019, was appointed to a lectureship at the university in 1979 and later headed its Department of Engineering, where her research into combustion and acoustics has focused on cleaner jet engines and quieter aircraft.

Silicon Fen is now home to over 5,000 knowledge-intensive firms employing more than 67,000 people. Arm, whose designs have shipped in more than 350 billion chips worldwide, was founded in Cambridge and remains headquartered in the city. AstraZeneca relocated its global corporate headquarters and flagship R&D facility to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, whilst the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton has almost 1,000 staff working on genomics research.

Young people in Cambridge have access to career pathways spanning biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, semiconductor design, artificial intelligence and software engineering. The Cambridge Biomedical Campus brings together researchers, clinicians and technicians at institutions including Addenbrooke's Hospital and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Apprenticeships and graduate schemes are available with major employers such as Arm and AstraZeneca, whilst the region's many start-ups offer routes into entrepreneurship. The University of Cambridge provides STEM degree programmes, and many of the cluster's home-grown successes have started life there.