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Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a thriving county of market towns which also covers the unitary authority area of Peterborough and the ancient Fens in the north and east. Cambridgeshire owes its global reputation to its research facilities, and its high-tech and biotech clusters.
Cambridgeshire has a population of 730,00. The county has main hubs in Cambridge, Peterborough, Huntingdon, St. Neots and March with smaller, rural villages in unspoilt countryside within easy reach.
Tourist attractions include: the historic centre of Cambridge and the 'backs', the Nene Valley railway, Peterborough Cathedral and the cathedral town of Ely.
At the centre of Cambridgeshire is the University of Cambridge with its unique scientific heritage - from the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA to more recent advances in the Human Genome Project. More than 20 percent of the world's Nobel Prize winners in medicine and chemistry have originated from the East of England. The Cambridge reputation for intellectual capital and potential for enterprise has spurred the alliance between the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to form CMI, providing a unique initiative to share world-leading technology and practices.
Cambridgeshire's biotech cluster
In biotechnology, Cambridgeshire is home to the largest biotech cluster outside the US and an international roll-call of research organisations including:
• The Medical Research Council (MRC)   • The Babraham Institute
• The Wellcome Trust   • The European Bioinformatics Institute
All of whom are undertaking work for academic institutions as well as industry, particularly in the biotechnological, chemical, agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors.
Cambridgeshire's technology cluster
Leading-edge technology companies are also represented in Cambridge, including:
• Accelrys   • Microsoft Research
• AT&T Labs   • Molecular Simulations
• Convergys   • Tality
• Globespan Virata   • Toshiba Research

Microsoft Research in particular has had a high profile in Cambridge, establishing the company's first research laboratory outside the US and investing over £50 million in the last few years.

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did you know? - Cambridgeshire
• work began to develop Cambridge Science Park in 1970 and was the first such facility to open in the UK
• Professor Stephen Hawking holds the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University - the same position held by Isaac Newton in 1669
• above the'Great Gate' entrance to Trinity College Cambridge is a statue of its founder King Henry VIII. Many years ago the sceptre held by the statue was replaced by a wooden chair leg as an undergraduate prank. Today, the chair leg remains in place as the original sceptre has never been replaced.