Cambridge is full of innovative start-ups and the main thing they need is money to help them grow. That’s the perceived wisdom but having attended last night’s Cambridge Network Open Meeting on Growth Capital I think it needs to be challenged.

The whole event, held at Robinson College was about getting money. But despite engaging presentations from the likes of bankers Kleinwort Benson, venture capital companies Amadeus and Atlas Venture as well as economic think tank Z/Yen the audience was dominated, not by hungry start-ups but by lawyers, accountants and PR people (myself included). A back of the envelope calculation was that just 16 per cent of people there were start-ups. Obviously you need an ecosystem to develop any technology cluster, but the balance seems all wrong.

So the question I’m left with was – where are the future Cambridge giants, the next ARM, Autonomy or CSR in embryo? Are they in their sheds busy inventing or simply not worried about gaining the investment they need to grow? Answers on a postcard please……