Cambridge town is named after the university of the same name and happens to be the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England, a reflection of the profound influence of the university on its surroundings. The county lies in East Anglia, about 80 km to the northeast of London. Cambridge is also the core of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen. Its urban population is estimated to be close to 130,000.

The University of Cambridge was founded in the 13th century by monks. In the 17th century Cambridge University educated many of the founders of Harvard, in Cambridge Massachusetts . Cambridge University has been the home Sir Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Rutherford, Crick and Watson.

Some of the colleges affiliated to the University of Cambridge include King's College, Magdalene College, Trinity College and St John's College. The latter pair is unique in that they are landowners; own significant land both in Cambridge and outside: Trinity owns the Cambridge Science Park and Felixstowe Port; St John's is the landlord of St John's Innovation Centre next door to the Science Park, as well as other buildings in the city centre.

Silicon Fen, much like Silicon Valley in the U.S. is an indicator of how many high-tech businesses and technology fledglings were created on science parks around the town. Such companies include Abcam, CSR, Acorn Computers (now ARM), CamSemi, Jagex and Sinclair. The U.S. Information Technology giant, Microsoft, has erected one of its U.K. Microsoft Research offices in a University of Cambridge technology park. Another major high-tech business to have set up shop in Cambridge is Marshall Aerospace. A lot of money has been invested here.