Accelrys | Blog

I love the Alps: French, German, Swiss, Italian, Austrian, Slovenian, whatever. I take my family there every summer. They’ve got what Cambridge, England lacks.  You know: rocks, glaciers, waterfalls, lakes, meadows, cows, Strudel, Schnitzel, the lot.

So why exactly do I live and work in one of the flattest areas of the UK, a city just south of an area  of former swampland that the natives lovingly call “The Fens?”

It’s a long story really, a story of science  and adventure initially, but I suppose I ended up here because Cambridge is both the seat of a world-famous university and a European innovation hub that benefits from the ready availability of smart people and a prestigious address. That, and the absence of valleys, turned a wet piece of English countryside into Europe’s “Silicon Fen.”

No wonder then that at some point, around  1990, a Cambridge University spinoff called Cambridge Molecular Design became one of the precursors of Accelrys and evolved into what is now our European Headquarters.

I had an opportunity to reminisce about Accelrys’ roots and connections with Cambridge on the occasion of a recent meeting with the CEO of Cambridge Network, Matt Schofield. Cambridge Network provides many invaluable services to the Silicon Fen community. It helps employers find the right employees, it organizes and helps companies host outstanding events , runs special interest groups, and it offers a range of member benefits and business development opportunities for its members. In short, it offers tools and information that bring the Cambridge community together.

Accelrys has deep roots within this community.  Some of our flagship Materials Science products such as CASTEP and ONETEP originated here and are being continuously enhanced by teams of researchers at Cambridge University and their collaborators, and we benefit from many other fruitful  partnerships such as the one with Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. Several Accelrys scientists, myself included, learned their trade as part of thriving university departments such as the Cavendish Laboratory. Many of our customers benefit from the close geographical proximity that the Silicon Fen provides; and several of our partners have a presence in Cambridge and surrounding areas.

But at the same time, the Cambridge Network meeting reminded me that even more could be done to join efforts with Cambridge companies and university departments. Globalization is wonderful, but nothing beats partners next door. So we’ll continue to look to for Silicon Fen collaborations. Which is easy thanks to Cambridge Network, and because there’s not a single mountain obstructing our view …