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The Hauser Forum – a new focal point for entrepreneurship in the region – was today opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
Made possible by a major £8m benefaction from the Hauser-Raspe Foundation, as well as a £2m grant from EEDA (East of England Development Agency), the Forum is the new home of Cambridge Enterprise – the University of Cambridge’s commercialisation office.
Work on the development, which consists of two landmark buildings, the Entrepreneurship Centre and the Broers Building, began in September 2008, on the University’s West Cambridge site.
The incredible leadership of donors such as Hermann Hauser and Pamela Raspe has made this space possible. We are very fortunate to have such a unique purpose-built environment for innovation in Cambridge.
Teri Willey
The state-of-the-art enterprise hub has been designed to stimulate innovative collaboration between clusters of academics, start-up businesses and established industries.
Professor Lynn Gladden, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, said: “The Hauser Forum will play a central role in setting the future agenda for innovation in the University, the region and for the UK economy.”
Teri Willey, Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise said: “The incredible leadership of donors such as Hermann Hauser and Pamela Raspe has made this space possible. We are very fortunate to have such a unique purpose-built environment for innovation in Cambridge.”
The Hauser Forum will also feature an ‘ideaSpace’ to support emerging innovations and to link them with entrepreneurial activities within the University and around the East of England.
The ideaSpace Director, Stew McTavish, said: “I’m truly excited and humbled to be a part of the Forum. The amazing mix of people and companies from Cambridge, the East of England and beyond that will be brought together here is going to make a big change to the entrepreneurial community in the region.”
Meanwhile, the Broers Building, named in honour of the former University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Lord Broers, is a pioneering centre in which small and medium enterprises and international companies can lease space to work in closer partnership with researchers and commercialisation activities at the University.
The first tenants to take up leases are Nokia Research Centre, which develops nanotechnologies for mobile communication and ambient intelligence, as well as Base4 Innovation, a spin-out company from the Cavendish Laboratory that develops detection platforms for healthcare and the life sciences.