TRANSCRIPT
London, Oxford and Cambridge form one of the world's leading knowledge-intensive regions, sometimes known as the 'Golden Triangle'.
It's home to five of the world's top-ranking universities for life sciences and medicine. Hundreds of businesses seeking direct access to innovation, talent and commercial advantage have been attracted to this area, creating a unique eco-system or 'cluster' of knowledge-intensive companies. The knowledge economy is a key driver of economic growth in the UK. The Oxford and Cambridge Arc alone currently contributing £111 billion annually, with potential for generating an additional £80 billion per year by 2050.
Until the onset of Covid-19 there has been considerable demand for life science laboratory and high tech office space, with a number of major developments coming to the fore in recent years. With the demand for office and lab space outstripping supply, we have seen a sharp increase in rental costs. This, coupled with shortage of housing and lack of transport infrastructure poses significant long-term structural challenges to the area.
Today, the region's strength in life sciences have been at the forefront of the response to the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis. It is here that this sector will play a critical role in driving the post-covid economic recovery. And so, in order to fool-proof the success of the region, there should be more inter-city-regional planning, with emphasis on presenting the 'Golden Triangle' as a coordinated brand, allowing for the provision of the right mix of start-up, grow-on industrial an corporate space across the region as a whole and anchor institutions even more integrated into the local areas, supporting local communities on the one side, while being part of of the global knowledge networks on the other.