Cambridge Phenomenon trip to Boulder, Colorado

We've just got back from an incredible trip to Boulder, Colorado where we spent ten days talking about the opportunities for co-operation between Cambridge and Boulder. How can we share the knowledge we've gained from the success of our own tech cluster, and what can we learn from our counterparts in Colorado?

The two towns have a lot in common - great people, lots of cafes and restaurants (we can highly recommend the Dushanbe Teahouse) and you can walk or bike everywhere. Cambridge folk more used to the flat Fenland landscape might be a little envious of the dramatic backdrop of the Flatiron Mountains though!

Our conversations focused on the Internet of Things, impact investing, exchanges between tech clusters (initially Boulder and Cambridge) and the Future of Life. We received a very warm welcome and made some great contacts, including:

Amber Nystrom, Founder of Social Fusion and the Director of the Social Entrepreneurship Incubator for the Women’s Technology Cluster. Amber is a terrific planner, facilitator and a delightfully kind lady to be around.

Adam Hevenor, a social entrepreneur who works with Amber on impact investing.

The Van Heyst Group, which includes Tate Behning, Peter Johnson and Carrie Van Heyst. The group has a long history of delivering global events to top level political and business audiences. In 2003 they hosted a Future of Life conference with Time Magazine. They too know Amber and everybody within the Boulder tech community.

Chris Rezendes from Inex Advisors - an author, commentator and analyst on IOT and M2M communications who are based in New Bedford, Mass.

Stewart Skomra works for the Temeda and Morey Corporation. He is a brilliant engineer and has a strong background, at senior level, with Intel and Qualcom. Stewart is based in Chicago and is really passionate about the Internet of Things for the work he is doing with the Morey Corporation.

We were also lucky enough to spend time at Hub Boulder and we enjoyed lunch with the CEO of the company, Greg Berry. This is a brilliant new location in a brand new building and operates in the way IdeaSpace at the Hauser Forum should be organised, with flexible space and great facilities.

This is just the start of our relationship with our counterparts in Boulder and one which we hope will lead to new opportunities and the sharing of knowledge between the two cities.