Getting to Cambridge

“IT WAS just a bit of fun at the weekend,” shrugs Toby Norman, almost apologetically. Bagehot stifles a laugh at the understatement. The two are sitting in a 14th-century rectory, looking at three gizmos. Mr Norman’s team built the first, a brick of plastic and circuitry known as “The Hulk”, for a competition hosted by ARM, a Cambridge-based electronics firm. This attempt to create a device to help doctors and aid workers in poor countries store and retrieve patient data (along with the second, smaller version) attracted mentors and over $1m of investment. The third, all moulded plastic and contours, resembles the slick product that Mr Norman’s startup, SimPrints, will take to market in January. Its success story—a marriage of academia, private money and entrepreneurial savvy—exemplifies that of Cambridge.