resilient networks

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

Last night I met with a friend from Deep Visuals, Alan Payne, at the Cafe Networking event we run for growing companies seeking staff and for jobseekers among our membership. I last really talked to him on my first day in Cambridge Network this Spring, when Kodak announced that they were closing their Cambridge unit with the loss of 21 jobs. Alan was already an old friend from my work in London, and I had spent time with him there talking about the places to live around Cambridge. So it was a shock to see the unit closing, driven by a decision by Eastman Kodak to consolidate all activity to the US HQ. We offered help, both through advice on CV writing delivered by The Learning Collaboration and through our own networking events. From Alan's account, East of England Development Agency and other groups who had helped them relocate to the region were also very helpful. However the context of hiring freezes in many Cambridge companies made the situation seem bleak.

The unit finally closed at the end of June, and, due in no small part to the job-seeking training and busy networking, already 17 of the 21 staff are employed, mostly in Cambridge. 2 new companies have been formed in Cambridge. One of these, Deep Visuals,  has now moved to larger offices and taken on new staff. For the 4 software programmers developing ways for consumers to engage with photo collections that they or a museum have captured, their job has not changed that much. For Alan, who served Kodak after his initial apprenticeship as Laboratory Head and later Research Director until this Spring, the job is very different. A chemist by training, he is not involved in software development, but basically does everything else ! Like many CEO’s of start-ups he has discovered that he acts as office manager, operations manager, HR manager and CEO. He needs to sell, and he needs to make alliances with other companies to pursue opportunities. He finds the Network a useful way to make those contacts. He is happy that he is based in Cambridge.

Earlier this week I met with Sam Weller at the Greater Cambridge Partnership International Forum, where we heard ARM present on how they had achieved scale economies by sharing training purchasing through the The Learning Collaboration. Sam wants to help more companies move to Cambridge. As Director of Kodak's European Research Division, he organized the consolidation of several research units across Europe. He understands the priorities of corporate Foreign Direct Investors, concerned to find good staff close by, and the concerns of incoming workers, keen to see alternative careers if the risky business of technology innovation doesn't work out. Networks like Cambridge Network, Eastern Region Biotech Initiative, and Cambridge Wireless make those communities visible, and give incomers the confidence to move. Programmed events like the Cambridge Corporate Gateway make it cost-effective for corporate scouts to make initial contacts.

Networks are more resilient than any one of their nodes, because activity can route around a break. We look forward to seeing you this Autumn and helping you make those connections.

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