This case study from the Heywood Fellowship explores how national strategy can better account for place, focusing on Cambridge’s semiconductor sector.

Interviewees saw local strengths as key to national success but stressed the need for strategic national support to scale and compete globally. Effective national strategy should recognise place-led initiatives, foster regional collaboration, guide prioritisation through local insight, incentivise alignment across government levels, and build trust through ongoing public engagement rooted in local identity and context.