Steve Brierley did not have to negotiate intellectual property rights when he quit his academic position at Cambridge university to create a start-up. But he was still glad he founded his tech company there — and could take advantage of the institution’s broader benefits.
A former senior research fellow in computational mathematics, he launched Riverlane in 2016 to help correct the high level of errors made by quantum computers. Today, with 100 staff spread between Cambridge, Boston and San Francisco, he is in a good position to assess and compare the value of university links to entrepreneurs.
His experience points to why a significant number of European start-up hubs are based in — or are connected to — academic centres across the continent. “The challenges are to do with scaling, engineering and implementation: how to turn ideas into technology,” explains Brierley. “I realised I would never solve this problem in academia; we needed expertise including chip designers and engineers. Being at the heart of a field where Cambridge is really one of the leading research organisations means you are exposed to so many of the top ideas.”