Welcome to the first edition of View from the Arc!
For those of you who have followed us through the pages of Inside Cambridge and Inside Oxford, you will notice something has changed (and we hope you will agree, for the better). While those two publications served us well, capturing the energy and ambition of two of the world's most remarkable innovation ecosystems, the more time we spent looking at innovation and growth in those areas as distinct communities, the more apparent it became that the story we were telling was incomplete.
Cambridge and Oxford are not simply two great places operating in parallel. They are two bookends of something altogether more significant: a corridor of talent, capital and ideas that is reshaping the future of science, technology and enterprise in this country and beyond. And so…View from the Arc was created! It is our attempt to weave together those narratives and tell that bigger story. We hope you enjoy it.
The Oxford-Cambridge Arc is home to a concentration of intellectual firepower, deep-tech ambition and collaborative spirit that few regions anywhere in the world can match. Mishcon is privileged to have offices in both cities, and with the opening of our brand new office at Oxford North (you can read more about that milestone in this edition), we are deepening our commitment to this remarkable corridor.
This inaugural issue has been curated to discuss the breadth of what the corridor has to offer. Inside you'll find commentary on the Government funding initiative into the Arc, insight from Art Law specialist and Partner Amanda Grey on Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg's "The Length of a Moment" piece in Oxford North, as well as the latest updates from Partner, Gareth Dickson on IP and AI, a hot topic for so many in the innovation economy.
Along with this don't miss our client spotlight on CommonAI, a Cambridge based company with a revolutionary platform designed to transform how advanced artificial intelligence infrastructure is built, governed and shared. CommonAI are just one example of the kind of bold, collaborative thinking that makes this region distinctive.
Beyond our client work, this edition also marks another highlight from our time in the corridor. We were delighted to sponsor the 21 to Watch awards in Cambridge, a celebration of 21 remarkable 'people', 'companies' and 'things' that are making their mark on this extraordinary ecosystem. It was a privilege to play a part in recognising the next generation of talent and innovation shaping this region.
Finally, as part of each issue, we will look to showcase our fantastic teams within these key areas. We spotlight on Rachel Ashwood, Senior Counsel in our Employment Innovate team who comments on the reasons why she loves working in Cambridge and within Law more generally.
We are very proud to launch View from the Arc and incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to this first edition. We hope you enjoy this issue!
Thank you for reading and see you next time.